Red X iconGreen tick iconYellow tick icon
Skip to main content Skip to side navigation

Photo of Professor David Hutchinson.

Location
Room 112
Phone numbers
5102 (Office)
64 3 479 5102 (Office Direct Dial)
Email
david.hutchinson@otago.ac.nz

Download the vCard for Professor David Hutchinson

Biography

As the inaugural Director (until April 2023) of the Dodd Walls Centre – a national Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) - Prof. David Hutchinson is dedicated to educational outreach, while providing strong support for industry engagement and leadership of research activities across the Centre's five member universities. He's initiated and led a successful public engagement partnership with the Otago Museum - of which he has been a board member since 2008 – as well as with other museums, schools and agencies throughout New Zealand.

Prof. Hutchinson is also a professor in the University of Otago's Department of Physics. He collaborates internationally and has published extensively. His research expertise pertains to theoretical quantum physics, specifically ultra-cold atomic gases and quantum systems. Prof. Hutchinson continues to teach at all levels from physics for first year health science through to fourth year, and supervises graduate students at both the Masters and PhD level.

Prof. Hutchinson holds a BSc and PhD from the University of Exeter in the UK, plus a recently acquired PGDip(Arts) in Philosophy from Otago.  Before moving to New Zealand, he worked in Ireland, Canada and at the University of Oxford.  Prof. Hutchinson is a Fellow and the President of the New Zealand Institute of Physics, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK) and a member of the Institute of Directors of New Zealand.

I undertake theoretical research in the broad area of quantum physics. Current research topics include:

  • Disorder in ultracold atomic gases
  • Path-Integral Quantum Monte Carlo studies of ultra-cold gases
  • Finite-temperature theories of ultra-cold gases
  • Connections between quantum physics and number theory

Current teaching


PHSI 191 Biological Physics
PHSI 131 Fundamentals of Physics I
PHSI 423 Advanced Quantum Mechanics I
PHSI 424 Advanced Quantum Mechanics II

Course Coordinator

PHSI 423 Advanced Quantum Mechanics I
PHSI 424 Advanced Quantum Mechanics II

Publications

Erkintalo, M., Gaston, N., Hutchinson, D. A. W., Plank, N. O. V., Simpson, M. C., & Vanholsbeeck, F. (2023). What is it like to be a woman in physics in Aotearoa–New Zealand? AIP Conference Proceedings, 3040(1), 050027. doi: 10.1063/5.0175577 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper

Najafabadi, M. S., Schumayer, D., Lee, C.-K., Jaksch, D., & Hutchinson, D. A. W. (2023). Improving quantum annealing by engineering the coupling to the environment. EPJ Quantum Technology, 10, 44. doi: 10.1140/epjqt/s40507-023-00202-0 Journal - Research Article

Lohof, F., Schumayer, D., Hutchinson, D. A. W., & Gies, C. (2023). Signatures of superradiance as a witness to multipartite entanglement. Physical Review Letters, 131(6), 063601. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.063601 Journal - Research Article

Rahimi, N. F. B., Schumayer, D., & Hutchinson, D. A. W. (2023). Feynman's vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates. Proceedings of the Te Whai Ao: Dodd-Walls Centre (DWC) Rotorua Symposium. (pp. 38). Retrieved from https://www.otago.ac.nz/dodd-walls Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Rahimi, N. F. B., Schumayer, D., & Hutchinson, D. (2023). Feynman's vortices in ultracold atomtronic system. Proceedings of the Te Whai Ao: Dodd-Walls Centre (DWC) Rotorua Symposium. (pp. 37). Retrieved from https://www.otago.ac.nz/dodd-walls Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Back to top