Careers

The group CFEL-ATTO is looking for highly motivated and talented persons to join our group. We offer positions at many levels of research careers, from bachelor projects to postdoctoral positions, any spontaneous application is welcome.

Every ATTOier is involved in an exciting and enjoyable scientific environment and encouraged to contribute with new ideas and smart solutions independently on her/his level of career. Our group is a good representer of the high-level, international and transversal environment provided and stimulated by the Centre of Free-Electron Science (CFEL) and, more generally, by the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) and Universität Hamburg.

Bachelor and Master projects

Participation in Experimental Campaigns involving pump-probe experiments (Bachelor & Master):

• We collaborate with different external groups with the goal to ultimately understand the dynamics of the system of interest. You will get familiar with the state-of-art techniques for probing the dynamics of the system as well as unveil the dynamics via data analysis together with our group!
• System of interests are: DNA bases or biorelevant molecules (VMI), metallic complexes in liquid (Transient Absorption), C60 (Attosecond streaking).

References: Nisoli et al., Chem. Rev., 2017, 117, 16, 10760-10825; Auböck et al., Nature Chemistry, 2015, 7, 629-633.

Realtime observation of ultrafast plasmon dynamics in gold nanostructures via Transient Absorption (TA) Spectroscopy (Bachelor):

• Here you will perform TA experiments on plasmonic gold nanostructures with our ultrashort pulses to gain information on the electron-electron interactions of the plasmonic system. A deeper understanding of this dynamical process helps for several new technologies in fields such as energy conversion, photocatalysis or biology.

References: Hartland, Chem. Rev., 2011, 111, 6, 3858-3887.

Simulation of UV and/-or X-ray pulse generation and propagation in chip and/-or capillaries (Bachelor and Master):

• We are building novel setups to generate the shortest UV/soft X-ray radiation possible. In order to realize the experimental setup, simulations of the experimental conditions and parameters are key to ensure the feasibility of the experiment. You will get familiar with simulation programs such as COMSOL and be able to test the conditions in our lab as well.

References: Galli et al., Optics Letters., 2019, 44, 6, 1308-1311; Vozzi et al., Optics Letters., 2007, 32, 20, 2957-2959.

High Harmonic Generation (HHG) in nanostructures (Master):

• Compared to conventional HHG processes using atoms, HHG in solids, provides interesting features such as high repetition rates (for faster data acquisition) or a higher conversion efficiency. In cooperation with a group from the hybrid nanostructures group, you will be generating Attosecond Pulses via High Harmonic Generation with nanostructures.

References: Ghimire et al., Nature Physics, 2019, 15, 10-16; Han et al., Nature Communications, 2019, 10, 3272.

Optical field sampling of near-petahertz fields (Master):

• Optical field sampling is a novel technique for the sampling of arbitrary electric fields. Nowadays, fields up to the Petahertz (PHz) range can be characterized with this technique, meaning that the study of materials applicable for PHz electronics becomes feasible. Here you will design an optical field sampling setup based on the technique called TIPTOE, which will be used to characterized different samples to unveil their ultrafast dynamics.

References: Park et al., Optica, 2018, 5, 4, 402-408; Blöchl et al., Optica, 2022, 9, 7, 755-761.

Pulse compression via novel schemes such as capillaries or multipass cell (Bachelor & Master):

• Pulse compression is essential for our work and new emerging techniques aim for simple and efficient generation of the shortest pulses available. In your work you will be dedicated to simulate and test these schemes with the goal to create compact sources for the efficient generation of ultrashort pulses.

References: Balla et al., Optics Letters, 2020, 45, 9, 2572-2575; Travers et al., Nature Photonics, 2019, 13, 547-554.

Nanosecond pulse compression – a new approach to pico/femtosecond laser pulse production

• Ultrafast laser pulses play a crucial role in modern science, in medicine as well as for a range of industrial applications. By employing a novel concept based on so called pulse post-compression, a method which is widely used for femtosecond laser technology.
• We are targeting the direct compression of nanosecond lasers into the picosecond or even femtosecond regime – an approach which has the potential to open an entirely new route to generate ultrashort laser pulses.

References: Balla et al., Optics Letters, 2020, 45, 9, 2572-2575, L. Silletti, et al., 2022 arXiv:2209.15335.

 

 

Want to know more about these positions? Do not hesitate to contact: