We offer a post-doc position in the project carried out in the National Laboratory FAMO within the Sonata Bis 11 programme of the National Science Centre (NCN). The National Laboratory FAMO is a leading Polish research-oriented institution focused on atomic, molecular, and optical physics problems. Currently, several European projects are realized in National Laboratory FAMO, concerning ultra-cold atoms, quantum control, and optical atomic clocks.
Details
Institution: Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics
City: Toruń
Position: assistant professor (adjunkt) - research staff
Discipline: The Field of Exact and Natural Sciences - Physical Sciences
Posted: 2025-01-29
Expires: 2025-03-03
Description (field, expectations, comments):
The competition is open to persons who meet the conditions set out in Article 113 of the Act of 20 July 2018 - Law on higher education and science (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1668) and the following qualification criteria:
Skills/Qualifications:
- A doctorate in physics or a closely related field obtained no more than seven years ago or statement about planned finalization of doctorate (it’s required to receive a PhD degree before starting the work)
- A record of publications in optical spectroscopy, cold atoms, experimental atomic physics topics, or similar field
- Good command of written and spoken English
Preferred:
- Experimental work in the field of atomic physics (in particular with ultracold atoms)
- Construction of high-resolution laser systems
- Construction of high vacuum systems
- Programming skills and experience in numerical methods
The candidate must meet the requirements of the National Science Center, in particular, holding a doctoral degree obtained no earlier than 7 years before the year of employment in the project (this period may be extended in cases of career interruptions specified by the National Science Center). A person employed in a postdoc position cannot simultaneously be employed under another employment contract.
Project description
The project is carried out in the National Laboratory FAMO within the Sonata Bis 11 programme of the National Science Centre (NCN). The National Laboratory FAMO is a leading Polish research-oriented institution focused on atomic, molecular, and optical physics problems. Currently, several European projects are realized in National Laboratory FAMO, concerning ultra-cold atoms, quantum control, and optical atomic clocks.
The project is devoted to creating a new research team for developing a new experimental platform to enable probing fundamental physics and search for new physics beyond the Standard Model utilizing an ultracold mixture of mercury and rubidium atoms. The proposal is divided into objectives that make a coherent research programme ranging from searching for new physics with precise sotope shift measurements, through ultracold atomic and molecular spectroscopy, up to developments in metrology based on a two-species system. The goals will be realized with the unique experimental system capable of simultaneous collecting ultracold Hg and Rb atoms already working in the National Laboratory of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (KL FAMO).
The main research goal of the project is to make use of one of the most promising methods for probing physics beyond the Standard Model, namely looking for breaking of linearity in so-called King plot, applied for Hg isotope shift. A significant improvement proposed in this project is to take advantage of the extremely narrow so-called clock transitions with natural linewidths much below 1 Hz. This, together with the high isotopic diversity of Hg, provides excellent conditions to perform state-of-the-art King-plot-based measurements and may pave the way for experimental verification of the Standard Model.
Another project's research goal is to perform the first step towards the experimental platform for quantum simulations based on absolute ground-state molecules in an optical lattice. To create ultracold RbHg molecules, we will use an already existing and operating unique experimental system that has been proven to efficiently cool and trap Hg and Rb atoms in a dual-species magneto-optical trap reaching the temperatures of the order of 10 μK. Our research on ultracold molecules will be based on two experimental methods: photoassociation (PA) and stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP). Photoassociation spectroscopy will be carried out near the D1 (795 nm) transition in Rb. Using the optical frequency comb coupled with our system, we will measure the absolute frequency of PA resonances for various Rb-Hg isotopologues.
Key responsibilities include:
1) Construction and adaptation of the experimental setup.
2) Performing the experiments.
3) Performing the calculations and data analysis.
4) It is expected to support the PI in all of the project's tasks.
5) The post-doc will also facilitate knowledge transfer to the MSc students and PhD students.
We offer:
- The maximum period of contract agreement: 35 months,
- Salary: gross salary: 140.000,00 PLN /year (including the employer's cost) (about 11.000,00 gross PLN/month),
- Opportunity to work in interdisciplinary research group with strong support from astronomy and physics groups,
- Collaboration with the best research groups in the world in the field of dark matter detection with optical atomic clocks,
- International collaboration,
- Very good salary,
- No teaching duties,
- International internships and the possibility to present research results at international conferences.
Salary: PLN 140,000/year gross gross (i.e., total employment costs including full social and health insurance)
Full-time employment. Contract duration: 12 months, with the possibility of extension up to 35 months. Position starts in: May 2025.
Project leader: dr Marcin Witkowski
Project title: „Search for new physics with ultracold mixture of Hg and Rb atoms.”
Required documents:
Personal questionnaire for the person applying for employment (download here)
Professional curriculum vitae
Copy of higher education diploma
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) (download here)
Declaration under art. 113 ust. 1 ustawy Prawo o szkolnictwie wyższym (o niekaralności) (Art. Paragraph 113 (1) of the Higher Education Act (of no criminal record)) (download here)
Declaration that Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń will be my primary employer once I have won the contest (download here)
At least one (max three) reference letter(s)
Copy of doctorate certificate or statement about planned finalization of PhD (it’s required to receive a PhD degree before starting the work)
A cover letter including a description of scientific motivation, a description of research interests, and a publication list (addressed to Professor Andrzej Tretyn, Rector of the Nicolaus Copernicus University)
Additional information: Please submit the aforementioned documents to karolina.kitkowska@umk.pl with annotation " RbHg molecules 25.1"(offer no. 4647) in the subject field. We reserve the right not to select any candidates. The project leader reserves the right to interview selected candidates. Application deadline: 3.03.2025 Documents should be submitted to Karolina Kitkowska at: karolina.kitkowska@umk.pl before 3.03.2025. The applicants will be contacted for an interview to schedule a time. The contest will be adjudicated no later than 31.03.2025 The university does not provide accommodation. NCU declares the right not to choose any candidate.
Please be informed that the person selected through the competition will be obliged to submit a certificate from the National Criminal Register with regard to offences specified in Chapters 19 and 25 of the Penal Code (including offences against sexual freedom and morality), in Article 189a and Article 207 of the Penal Code and in the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction of 29 July 2005 (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 1939 and of 2022, item 2600), or for the corresponding offences defined in foreign law. The obligation to verify applies to a person whose tasks will be related to the protected activity referred to in Article 21. of the Act of 13 May 2016 on counteracting the threat of sexual offences and the protection of minors (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 560).
Pursuant to art. 24 paragraph 6 of the Act of June 14, 2024 on the protection of whistleblowers (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 928), information on the internal reporting procedure at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń is available at: https://www.umk.pl/en/contact/internal-reporting/
