Postdoc: High-Power Laser & Accelerator Tech

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 64,000 - 102,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary aligned with union contract

Opportunities for collaboration

Job summary

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA, seeks a Postdoctoral Scholar to advance laser-plasma accelerator technologies, develop light sources, and enable new radiation applications. You will work under faculty mentorship on LPA stabilization, high-brightness electron beams for FELs, AI/ML-based control systems, simulations, diagnostics, and radiation experiments.

Join BELLA-led campaigns, collaborate with scientists and engineers, and contribute to publications.

Qualifications

• PhD in Physics, Engineering, or a related field focused on accelerator physics, lasers, plasmas, or a closely related discipline.
• Demonstrated experimental experience in high power laser or particle accelerator facilities.
• Knowledge of standard equipment like motion controllers, pressure controllers, machine vision cameras, power supplies etc.
• Demonstrated knowledge in CPA laser systems, accelerator physics, plasma-based accelerators, and accelerator-based generation of secondary radiation (photons and particles).
• Ability to work closely in a team with other scientists, postdocs, graduate students and technicians but also be self-driven.

Responsibilities

• Assist with the design and execution experiments to optimize laser-plasma accelerators, the particle & photon radiation pulses they produce, and novel applications that can be explored.
• Help maintain and develop rigorous operational procedures to ensure consistent and reliable operation of multi-TW to PW class laser systems.
• Study and apply feedback control methods to stabilize amplified, ultrashort laser pulses and the radiation output they produce. Explore advanced control concepts, including machine learning and AI integration, for accelerator systems.
• Assist with the execution of simulation studies to refine approaches to single-stage and multi-stage laser-plasma acceleration of relativistic electron beams.
• Assist with the execution of simulation studies to refine approaches and identify novel schemes for producing and using high brightness electron beams for radiation production through mechanisms such as free-electron laser gain, plasma-based betatron emission, and Inverse Compton Scattering.
• Work collaboratively with an interdisciplinary team of scientists, engineers and theorists to efficiently assist with the execution of the above tasks.
• Document and communicate the results of work in reports and oral presentations, including participation in meetings, reviews, conferences and publications in refereed journals.

Skills

Experimental experience

Team collaboration

Python programming

LabVIEW programming

Accelerator physics

Education

PhD in Physics or Engineering

Tools

Motion controllers

Pressure controllers

Machine vision cameras

Power supplies

Job description

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA, seeks a Postdoctoral Scholar to advance laser-plasma accelerator technologies, develop light sources, and enable new radiation applications. You will work under faculty mentorship on LPA stabilization, high-brightness electron beams for FELs, AI/ML-based control systems, simulations, diagnostics, and radiation experiments.

Join BELLA-led campaigns, collaborate with scientists and engineers, and contribute to publications.