MoSaiQC - Modular Systems for Advanced Integrated Quantum Clocks
A European Innovative Training Network

European Training Networks within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme Innovative Training Networks (ITN) help researchers gain experience of different working environments while developing transferable skills. ITNs are competitively awarded, multi-beneficiary, international research and training networks providing post-graduate training in specific and inter-disciplinary scientific fields. They bring together networks of research-performing institutions – from both the academic and non-academic sectors – around a common research and training programme to strengthen the career perspectives of Early-stage Researchers (ESRs) and to support entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation across Europe

This ITN trains 15 ESRs in 10 organizations from industry and academia. MoSaiQC is EU funded (project no. 860579) and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action. All ESRs will participate in the network for the full duration of their post-graduade training. All ESRs are expected to defend the PhD thesis at the end of the contract. The ITN grants cover, i.a., recruitment and training of each researcher for up to three years and research costs including the organisation of joint activities and conferences. The researcher is hired under an employment contract and benefits from a monthly living allowance, social security cover, plus a mobility and family allowance. More information can be found here:
https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/actions/research-network...

ESR8 – Moving from a superradiant laser to a frequency standard

A frequency standard requires the determination of a precise accuracy budget by evaluating all possible frequency shifts and their uncertainties. Creating the accuracy budget for state-of-the-art passive optical atomic clocks follows well-known procedures, but no such procedures exist for active, superradiant clocks. The goal of this project is to develop these procedures. Different procedures will be developed, which can be applied in case a second reference source (e.g. a passive optical atomic clock) is available or not. A continuous superradiant optical clock is under development at University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (UMK). UMK operates two passive strontium optical lattice clocks, referenced to a femtosecond optical frequency comb synchronized to the frequency of local representations of the International Atomic Time, which provides traceability to the SI second through a 330 km-long stabilized fibre optical link. This system provides the test bed for the procedures developed by the Early Stage Researcher (ESR).
Expected Results:
ER8.1 A set of standard operating procedures required for evaluating the accuracy budget of an active superradiant frequency standard.
ER8.2 Tests of the procedures developed in ER8.1 on the continuous active optical clock that is under development by UvA and UMK.

Profile of candidates/requirements

• A master degree in physics or a closely related field.
• The Early Stage Researcher (ESR) shall at the date of recruitment by the host organisation, be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and have not been awarded a doctoral degree
• Candidates can be any nationality, but can not apply for a position in if they have lived in Poland more than 12 months in the last 3 years.
• An excellent academic record.
• Experience through coursework and/or a research project in atomic physics.
• It is highly beneficial if the master thesis has been done in experimental atomic, molecular or optical physic.
• Computer programming skills or electronic engineering skills.

Eligibility criteria
• Fulfilment of the requirements.
• The quality and number of scientific achievements.
• Knowledge of English language.

The applicants should read the European Charter and Code for Researchers: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/euraxess/charter-code-researchers

Required documents
• A cover letter (addressed to Professor Andrzej Sokala, Rector of the Nicolaus Copernicus University).
• Curriculum vitae (including a description of scientific motivation, a description of research interests, and a publication list).
• Scan or photocopy of the candidate's university degree.
• At least one (max three) reference letter
• Personal questionnaire for the person applying for employment (https://www.umk.pl/en/employment/dokumenty/en_ankieta.doc)
• Declaration of consent to the processing of personal data contained in the job offer for the needs of the recruitment process, in accordance with the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of The Council od 27 April 2016 (L119/1) (https://www.umk.pl/en/employment/dokumenty/en_os4.docx)
• Declaration of no criminal record under art. 113 ust. 1 ustawy Prawo o szkolnictwie wyższym (o niekaralności) (Art. Paragraph 113 (1) of the Higher Education Act) (https://www.umk.pl/en/employment/dokumenty/en_oswiadczenie1.doc)
• Declaration that Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń will be your primary employer once you have won the contest (https://www.umk.pl/en/employment/dokumenty/en_oswiadczenie2.doc)

We offer
• 3 years of the research assistant position
• Total gross budget for three years: "living allowance" - 88 878,6 EUR, "mobility allowance" - 21 600,00 EUR and "family allowance" - 9 000,00 EUR. This corresponds to approximately 1800 EUR of monthly net payment
• Secondments in University of Amsterdam, University of Copenhagen, Danish Fundamental Metrology networks and/or British Telecom. By exposure to the private sector in secondments and the private sector contribution to different training activities, the skills the ESRs acquire will match with those expected by future employers in the field of atomics physics, optics, laser science, metrology, fibre optics and telecommunication.

Selection Process

• Please submit the aforementioned documents to castle[at]fizyka.umk.pl by 10 January 2021 with annotation “PhD MoSaiQC ESR8” in the subject field.
• After preliminary selection a shortlist of candidates fulfilling the main eligibility criteria will be immediately invited for an interview that will be arranged 12 January 2021, in person or online. After the interview, the recommended candidate will be approved by the MoSaiQC Training and Recruitment Committee, and by the Faculty Scientific committee. Subsequently, the candidate studies and diplomas will be nostrificated (recognised) and candidate finally will be approved by the Discipline Council of the Faculty.
• The contract can cover the period from 1 March 2021 to 29 February 2024.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, etc. To foster diversity in our research group, we will especially appreciate applications from groups under-represented in science.

Your submitted information will be deleted within 3 months after the closure of the application procedure.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme ​under grant agreement No 860579 (MoSaiQC project).