PhD: Ultrafast, Spatiotemporal Light with Metasurfaces

Eindhoven-University-of-Technolog; Eindhoven; On-site; EUR 36,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) invites applications for a four-year PhD position in Spatiotemporal Light Generation with Frequency-Gradient Metasurfaces. The project spans design, nanofabrication, and femtosecond experiments to enable ultrafast control of structured light at the femtosecond scale.

You will develop metasurfaces, model their responses, and perform experiments across TU/e, INESC MN (Portugal), and NKT Photonics (Denmark).

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Applied Physics, Physics, Optics/Photonics, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, or a related field.
• Strong foundation in electromagnetics, optics, and/or photonics.
• Experience with scientific programming or electromagnetic modelling, e.g. Python, MATLAB, COMSOL, Lumerical, Tidy3D, or similar tools.
• Interest or experience in nanophotonics, metasurfaces, structured light, ultrafast optics, nanofabrication, or optical experiments.
• Ability to work independently while contributing to an international and interdisciplinary research team.
• Strong written and spoken English communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop design strategies for 2D and 3D frequency-gradient metasurfaces.
• Model and optimize their electromagnetic, spectral, and dispersive response.
• Explore ultrafast beam steering, temporal focusing, and self-torque generation through harmonic beating.
• Fabricate designed nanophotonic structures using TU/e cleanroom facilities.
• Build femtosecond optical experiments to characterize generated spatiotemporal light fields.
• Refine designs based on experimental results to improve device performance.

Skills

English communication

Independent work

Team collaboration

Foundations in electromagnetics/optics

Education

Master's degree in Applied Physics/Physics/Optics/Photonics/EE/Materials Science

Tools

Python

MATLAB

COMSOL

Lumerical

Tidy3D

Job description

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) invites applications for a four-year PhD position in Spatiotemporal Light Generation with Frequency-Gradient Metasurfaces. The project spans design, nanofabrication, and femtosecond experiments to enable ultrafast control of structured light at the femtosecond scale.

You will develop metasurfaces, model their responses, and perform experiments across TU/e, INESC MN (Portugal), and NKT Photonics (Denmark).