The organization
Nikhef is the national institute for subatomic physics in the Netherlands. At Nikhef, approximately 220 physicists and 80 technical staff work together in an open and international scientific environment.Together they perform theoretical and experimental research in the fields of particle and astroparticle physics. Nikhef is a partnership between six major Dutch universities and the NWO-I Foundation, the Institutes Organization of theDutch Research Council (NWO). Nikhef participates in a wide range of research collaborations, including the ALICE, ATLAS and LHCb experiments at CERN, the KM3NeT neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean, the Virgo gravitational waves interferometer in Pisa, the Xenon-nT dark matter experiment in Gran Sasso, the Pierre Auger cosmic ray observatory in Argentina, and the eEDM research programme in Groningen. Nikhef furthermore has scientific groups on theory, physics data processing and detector R&D, and has excellently equipped technical departments in mechanics, electronics, and computing. Nikhef hosts a LHC Tier-1 dataprocessing center and offers substantial additional computing resources for end-user data analysis and simulation.
The group
The position offered here is part of an NWO-funded research program: “FASTER – Fast sensors and Algorithms for Space-time Tracking and Event Reconstruction”, which comprises 7 PhD positions and 3 postdoc positions in the period 2023-2028, all focused on research of fast-timing tracking systems for ALICE, ATLAS, LHCb and future experiments.
Fast-timing tracking detectors, consisting of billions of pixels, measure precisely the time at which particles pass our detectors. The measured time information enables the experiments to cope with the challenges at the high luminosity LHC (HL-LHC): unprecedented hit rates and levels of radiation. The consortium members bring together expertise on sensor technologies, data acquisition and advanced pattern-recognition algorithms.
In the FASTER program, we will research and develop novel fast-timing sensors, as well as novel methods and algorithms to characterize and calibrate the detector to realize the picosecond-level time measurements. We will also research pattern recognition algorithms that make use of the time measurements to execute more efficiently and on heterogeneous computing architectures such as GPUs.
The position
We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join us to:
- Research and develop novel methods and algorithms to characterize and calibrate fast timing detectors, to ensure the design goal of picosecond-level time measurements for the ATLAS High Granularity Timing Detector (HGTD).
- Research and develop methods to realize online time measurements for future experiments, embedded in the ECFA DRD7 program.
Close collaboration with the other positions in the FASTER program is expected, with frequent travel to CERN, Nikhef and other consortium partners like Groningen and Maastricht. The successful candidate will become a member of the ATLAS collaboration and the ECFA DRD7 collaboration.
This position will be embedded in the ATLAS group of the HEP department at Radboud University, located in Nijmegen.
What are we looking for?
We are looking for postdoctoral candidates with an (almost) completed Ph.D. in particle physics or a closely related field. The ideal candidate profile includes but is not limited to the following qualities:
- Strong programming skills, ideally in dealing with lower-level detector information
- Affinity with hardware, and/or ability to collaborate efficiently with engineers
- Ideally, experience in research and development of particle detector systems and/or data acquisition systems.
Offer
The candidate will be employed by the NWO-I foundation for a period of two years and will obtain the status of postdoctoral researcher. The working location will be Nijmegen. She/he will receive a competitive salary. The conditions of employment are excellent and include extra months’ salary payment in May and December. The conditions of employment of the NWO-I-foundation can be found at https://www.nwo-i.nl/en/employees/. We aim for this position to start as soon as possible, and preferably before February 2025. However, the actual starting date is upon mutual agreement with the selected candidate.
Further information and application
For further information, feel free to contact dr. Frank Filthaut (f.filthaut@nikhef.nl) and dr. Mengqing Wu (m.wu @nikhef.nl) for the position, or dr. Hella Snoek (h.snoek@nikhef.nl) for general information about the application procedure and the FASTER program.
Qualified applicants are encouraged to apply by filling the template below. Please be prepared to upload a curriculum vitae and a motivation letter, and have the email addresses of at least two referents ready, who are willing to send a letter of recommendation on your behalf. The deadline for applications is October 15, 2024.
All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply