Postdoctoral Fellow, High-Repetition-Rate Ultrashort Pulse Laser Development

Position Description

Postdoctoral Fellow, High-Repetition-Rate Ultrashort Pulse Laser Development

Department of Physics / CHEDS · Reports to: Prof. B. M. Hegelich · Appointment: 1 year, renewable up to 5 years.

Job Description Summary

The Center for High Energy Density Science (CHEDS) at The University of Texas at Austin invites applications for a postdoctoral fellow in high-power, ultrashort-pulse laser science and engineering. The postdoc will develop a high-repetition-rate, short-pulse (~100 fs), 1 µm laser front end, based on OPCPA or on nonlinearly broadened ??Yb:YLF or ??Yb:YAG, to serve both as the front end for a few-Hz upgrade of the Texas Petawatt (TPW) laser and as a stand-alone system for laser-ion sources.

The postdoc will also support the development of a few-Hz, high-energy, distributed-gain-media, mixed-glass amplifier for the TPW, and the operation and further development of the TPW and the 40 TW UT3 laser systems. The work is part of the effort to build ??TeX-Ray, a new high-repetition-rate laser-plasma facility in the Physics high-bay, with strong ties to US national laboratories ??and to experimental programs at UT and off-site.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and characterize a high-repetition-rate, short-pulse (<100 fs), 1 µm laser front end, using OPCPA or nonlinearly broadened ??Yb:YLF or ??Yb:YAG, to serve as the front end for a few-Hz upgrade of the TPW laser, as well as a stand-alone system for laser-ion sources. This includes pump lasers, stretcher and compressor design, spectral broadening, temporal contrast, and full pulse and beam characterization.
• Support the development of a few-Hz, high-energy, distributed-gain-media, mixed-glass amplifier for the TPW, including optical and thermal design, modeling, assembly, testing and integration with the front end.
• Support the operation and further development of the TPW laser system, including alignment, performance monitoring, diagnostics, maintenance, and experimental shot support.
• Support the operation and further development of the 40 TW UT3 laser system, including alignment, performance monitoring, diagnostics, maintenance, and support of laser-plasma experiments, and help train students and users in operation and laser safety.
• ??Publish results and present at conferences ??and in peer-reviewed journals. Mentor graduate and undergraduate students.

Required Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Physics, Optics, Laser Physics, Electrical Engineering or a related field, completed within the last 3 years or by the start date.
• Hands-on experience designing, building and operating ultrashort-pulse laser systems, such as chirped-pulse amplification (CPA), OPCPA, or Yb-based amplifiers.
• Experience with nonlinear optics, such as OPA/OPCPA, frequency conversion or spectral broadening, and with pulse and beam characterization (e.g., FROG, SPIDER, autocorrelation, wavefront and contrast measurements).
• Experience with optical design and modeling tools (e.g., ??Zemax or similar) and with ??optomechanics, vacuum and electronics in a laboratory setting.
• Record of peer-reviewed publications in laser science or ??a related area.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with high-energy short-pulse glass lasers (e.g., TPW, Jupiter, NIF, Omega, Vulcan) and/or ??Ti:sapphire systems above 50 TW (e.g., UT3, ELI Beamlines L3).
• Experience with high-??average-power, diode-pumped solid-state lasers, including Yb-doped gain media, thermal management and thermal modeling.
• Experience with large-aperture or multi-slab amplifiers, mixed-glass or broadband glass gain media, and amplifier modeling (e.g., gain, bandwidth, thermal and B-integral effects).
• Experience with laser-plasma or laser-ion acceleration experiments and an understanding of laser requirements for them.
• Experience with CAD (SolidWorks, AutoCAD, ??FreeCAD), Python or LabVIEW for instrument control and data acquisition, and ML/AI-assisted laser control and optimization.
• Class IV laser safety training and experience.

Salary

$70,000 +, depending on qualifications.

Working Conditions

• Work in an academic research environment and in laser laboratories and high-bay spaces
• Repetitive use of a keyboard
• Work with Class IV lasers, high-voltage electrical systems and vacuum systems; laser protective eyewear and PPE required
• Lifting heavy objects (up to 50 ??lb), prolonged standing, and working at optical tables
• Will work closely with experimentalists and technical staff at UT (TPW, UT3) and offsite; occasional travel to conferences, collaborating institutions and offsite laser facilities; occasional extended hours during experiment campaigns

Required Materials

• Curriculum Vitae (CV), including a list of publications
• Statement of research interests
• 3 letters of reference, at least two of which must be from references outside The University of Texas at Austin.

The University of Texas at Austin is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to diversity. Security sensitive; background check conducted on the selected applicant.