Josh Blunsden

Josh is a trainee patent attorney working in the Manchester office as part of the Engineering practice group.

Areas of Expertise

• Quantum physics and quantum chemistry
• Atomic and molecular physics
• Optics (with a focus on laser optics)

Background

Josh graduated from the University of Oxford with an integrated Master’s degree in Chemistry (MChem). For his Master’s research project he worked in quantum chemistry, conducting spin dynamics simulations relating to the radical pair mechanism of avian magnetoreception (the ‘magnetic sense’ with which birds can navigate). His Master’s report on the effect of weak magnetic fields on radical pair reactions was runner-up for a departmental thesis prize.

Josh subsequently moved to Imperial College London, where he joined the Centre for Doctoral Training in Controlled Quantum Dynamics. He took a particular interest in architectures for quantum technology, while also studying quantum information and laser technology among other topics. Josh obtained a Master’s degree in Research (MRes) with a research project on the use of acousto-optics to generate tightly focussed trapping lasers (known as ‘tweezer traps’) for ultracold molecules. He then continued this work for a PhD research project, developing a system to generate and control reconfigurable arrays of these tweezer traps for quantum simulation experiments.

He joined Mewburn Ellis in 2023.