Post-doctoral position : beamline DEIMOS Saint-Aubin, France

SOLEIL is the French national synchrotron facility, located on the Saclay Plateau near Paris. It is a multi-disciplinary instrument and research laboratory whose mission is to conduct research using synchrotron radiation, to develop cutting edge instrumentation on the beamlines, and to make these developments available to the scientific community. SOLEIL synchrotron, a unique tool for both academic research and industrial applications across a wide range of disciplines including physics, biology, chemistry etc., opened in 2008. It is used annually by thousands researchers from France and abroad. SOLEIL is based on a synchrotron source that is state-of-the-art both in terms of brilliance and stability. This large scale facility, a partner of the Université Paris Saclay, is a “publically owned” private company, founded by the CNRS and the CEA.

Synchrotron SOLEIL has an opening for a post-doctoral position on the DEIMOS (Dichroism Experimental Installation for Magneto-Optical Spectroscopy, www.synchrotron-soleil.fr/en/beamlines/deimos) beamline. The DEIMOS beamline is devoted to absorption and dichroic measurements in the 350-2500 eV energy range and has a long-standing expertise in the development on low temperature and high magnetic field devices. Our latest achievement is a 3He-4He dilution refrigerator developed to reach sub-Kelvin temperature while performing XAS measurements in the soft energy range. We have also started to study the characteristics of a completely new cryogen-free end-station for ultra-low temperatures. The desired postdoctoral candidate will participate to the aspects of commissioning / development of these unique instruments. Moreover, his/her research activity should make good use of these specific sample environments and in particular the ultra-low temperatures (for instance on the subject of molecular magnetism or strongly correlated systems).

I.Missions

• You will be involved in both the instrumental and scientific program of the DEIMOS beamline. Your main scientific mission is developing an original research program using the unique capabilities of the ultra-low temperatures. In addition, possibilities are offered to join existing collaborations with different European laboratories. Your contribution on the instrumentation will focus on the existing dilution refrigerator and the new project of development of complete cryogen-free end-station dedicated to ultra-low temperatures  and high magnetic field.
• As a beamline scientist within the Experimental Division, you will be part of the DEIMOS beamline team under the coordination of the beamline leader. The beamline team manages the DEIMOS beamline for user operations and you will have primary “local contact” responsibility for a portion of the scheduled user beam time. This assistance to users imposes some on-call duty periods (typically 1 week per month of beam including the weekend) and may require, in case of need, on-site interventions outside regular working hours.

   II. Experience required

The candidate should hold a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in Physics, Materials Science, Chemistry or a related discipline. Previous experience in a synchrotron radiation center will be greatly appreciated.

The following aspects will be considered with the greatest attention:

• Proven knowledge of X-ray absorption and magnetism ;
• Expertise in cryogenic devices ;
• Expertise in UHV in situ facilities (MBE, STM, electron spectroscopies, electron diffraction…) ;
• Capability in developing complex experimental equipment ;
• Demonstrated experience in organizing the activity at shared experimental facilities ;
• Background in programming and in the writing of computational codes in python for the data treatment ;

The candidate must be fluent in English (written and spoken). Knowledge of French is also desirable but not mandatory and lessons are offered to non-native speakers.

III. General condition

The offer concerns a 1-year position, renewable 1 year. At least one letter of recommendation is required.