Rate My Professor David Jamieson

Professor David Jamieson is Professor of Physics in the School of Physics, Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne. He earned his BSc (Honours) and PhD in physics from the University of Melbourne, completing his doctorate in 1985. Subsequently, he held four years of postdoctoral research fellowships at the California Institute of Technology in the United States and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Upon returning to the University of Melbourne, he progressed to a professorial position and served as Head of the School of Physics from 2008 to 2013. He also managed the Melbourne node of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology.

Jamieson's research focuses on experimental condensed matter physics, with special emphasis on novel ion beam techniques for fabricating silicon-based quantum computer devices. Key contributions include the development of a method to locally enrich silicon with the spin-zero isotope silicon-28 and the integration of an atomic force microscope with an ion implanter to enable precise placement of single atoms into nanoscale devices for controlling and reading out single electron and nuclear spins. These techniques support critical functions for quantum computation and communication in silicon. He chairs the International Atomic Energy Agency's Cooperative Research Program aimed at developing new quantum technologies. In leadership roles, Jamieson was President of the Australian Institute of Physics from 2005 to 2006 and convener of the national working group for the Decadal Plan for Physics in Australia. His honors include the 2020 Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowship Award, the 2013 Australian Institute of Physics Outstanding Service to Physics Award, Fellowship of the Institute of Physics (UK) in 2005, Fellowship of the Australian Institute of Physics in 2004, and the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching from the University of Melbourne. Jamieson actively engages in public outreach through lectures on fundamental physics issues. In 2024, he co-authored research on a super-pure silicon chip advancing paths to powerful quantum computers.