Finished my PhD in quantum computing three years ago now.
My first post-doc was in laser-matter interactions. We had an experimental team that were focusing PWs of power on to ultra-thin films and separating the substance into its constituent parts (electrons and protons I mean). The plan was to increase the proton acceleration yields & make a consistent, tight bunch (in the energy spectra) so that we could use it for next generation cancer treatments. That's a long way off and no-one really has a good idea what else we can do with this system.
That annoyed me. There's not enough application or relevance there. So I've moved to Earth System science. I do a lot of global climate-economy coupled models & attempt to implement climate models with human decision making as a part of the system rather than some form of external forcing.
My first post-doc was in laser-matter interactions. We had an experimental team that were focusing PWs of power on to ultra-thin films and separating the substance into its constituent parts (electrons and protons I mean). The plan was to increase the proton acceleration yields & make a consistent, tight bunch (in the energy spectra) so that we could use it for next generation cancer treatments. That's a long way off and no-one really has a good idea what else we can do with this system.
That annoyed me. There's not enough application or relevance there. So I've moved to Earth System science. I do a lot of global climate-economy coupled models & attempt to implement climate models with human decision making as a part of the system rather than some form of external forcing.