Scientist as postdoctoral fellow for laser-driven X-ray source development

Job Description

DESY, with more than 2700 employees at its two locations in Hamburg and Zeuthen, is one of the world’s leading research centres. Its research focuses on decoding the structure and function of matter, from the smallest particles of the universe to the building blocks of life. In this way, DESY contributes to solving the major questions and urgent challenges facing science, society and industry. With its ultramodern research infrastructure, its interdisciplinary research platforms and its international networks, DESY offers a highly attractive working environment in the fields of science, technology and administration as well as for the education of highly qualified young scientists.

Our new lighthouse project HI-ACTS (Helmholtz Innovation Platform for Accelerator-based Technologies and Solutions) is an interdisciplinary innovation platform. This platform aims to integrate accelerator-based technologies and solutions from Helmholtz into industrial value chains by making them systematically accessible for industrial applications. The potential of accelerator technologies and solutions beyond purely scientific use is to be raised to a new level in order to accelerate innovation breakthroughs. The close integration of cooperation partners from industry with the scientific working groups is crucial to the success of a successful transfer that takes the entire value chain into account.

The platform will start its work in the first half of 2023 under the leadership of DESY and in collaboration with the Helmholtz partners, HZDR, HZB and Hereon. In addition to the platform management, so-called Technology Labs teams will be established at the Hamburg and Dresden sites, which will be linked to the platform management and the scientific groups. The Technology Labs address selected topics and high-risk (knowledge-intensive) development work along clear transfer paths to achieve key milestones and as preparation for the acquisition of additional private investments in the medium-term future.

Laser-plasma-based particle accelerators can generate 100 MeV-scale electron beams in only millimeter acceleration lengths. Leveraging inverse Compton scattering allows turning these compact sources of energetic electrons into metre-scale sources of X-ray radiation with tens to hundreds of keV photons. With their demonstrated ability to drive novel medical imaging modalities such as X-ray fluorescence imaging, such ultra-compact high energy X-ray sources are also an exciting prospect for industrially relevant applications. As part of HI-ACTS, we will develop a robust, all-optical high energy X-ray source and make it available for testing novel industrial concepts, such as imaging modalities of static or rapidly evolving objects/phenomena at a very early stage. In this context, we are looking for a post-doc to work on designing, developing and demonstrating the laser-plasma-accelerator driven high energy X-ray source and its application for industrially relevant imaging. The successful applicant will be part of the DESY Plasma Accelerator Group and closely working with the Innovation and Technology Transfer Office.