Experimental Postdoctoral Position in Atomic Quantum Physics

We are looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher with excellent laboratory skills to join our team! The position focuses on performing state-of-the-art atomic physics experiments and supervising PhD students, within the hybrid atom-ion quantum systems lab (HyQS), headed by Dr. Rene Gerritsma. The group is part of the Quantum Gases and Quantum Information (QGQI) cluster at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). 

What are you going to do?

The hybrid atom-ion setup combines the two well-established fields of ultracold atoms and trapped ions and explores the interplay between an ultracold gas of fermionic lithium atoms and an ytterbium ion. The atoms are trapped using an optical dipole trap, while the ion is confined within a Paul trap. The Li-Yb+ combination offers prospects for  studying the quantum regime of interacting atoms and ions owing to its large mass ratio. Furthermore, it accommodates the study of intermediate-range quantum impurity physics and quantum chemistry. For these applications, it will be crucial to be able to tune the interactions between the atoms and ions as well as to cool the fermi gas to the degenerate regime.

As a Postdoc you will work on these two challenges by searching for the Feshbach resonances that have been predicted to exist between the atoms and ions and upgrading the experiment to further cool down the atoms, working together with and supervising the two PhD researchers of the team. Furthermore, you will be in charge of supervising master- and bachelor projects and developing new experimental avenues for the setup to explore quantum effects.

Relevant references:

Hirzler et al., arXiv 2110.14475 (2021)

Trimby et al., arXiv 2109.15195 (2021)

Hirzler et al., Phys. Rev. A 102, 033109 (2020)

Feldker et al., Nat. Phys. 16 413 (2020)

Tomza et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 91, 035001 (2019)

The main focus of the HyQS group is to study the quantum dynamics of atom and ion systems while at the same time developing technology for emerging quantum applications, such as quantum computing and simulation. Next to the atom-ion setup, the group of Dr. Rene Gerritsma, consists of two more experiments focusing on trapped ions and quantum information.  Besides the PI, the group currently consists of two postdocs and four PhD students and we have close contacts with the theory group of Dr. Arghavan Safavi-Naini and the ultracold quantum gases group of Prof. Dr. Florian Schreck.