ICFO - The Institute of Photonic Sciences, Castelldefels (Barcelona, Spain), is offering a predoctoral fellowship to a well-qualified, highly motivated and dynamic graduate student who wishes to enhance his/her scientific career in a friendly and stimulating environment, as well as to obtain a doctoral degree in Photonics. The students at ICFO benefit from the extensive course offerings of local universities and focused instruction by ICFO professors while carrying out research activities at ICFO groups with local and international collaborators.

The successful candidate will be part of the Quantum Photonics with Solids and Atoms group (www.qpsa.icfo.es) led by Prof Hugues de Riedmatten. The group focuses on the quantum connection between single photons and atomic ensembles implemented with rare-earth doped solids and cold atomic gases. The goal is to control quantum effects, such as entanglement, in remote matter based systems, for applications in quantum information science, in particular in quantum networks and quantum repeaters.

The position is part of the EU Marie Curie Initial Training Network CIPRIS project (Coherent Information Processing in Rare-Earth Doped Solids, www.cipris.eu). Within this project, the candidate will be part of an international team working towards the development of long lived solid state quantum memories using cryogenically cooled rare-earth doped crystals. Quantum optical experiments towards the demonstration of long lived entanglement between two remote crystals will also be explored.

As part of the CIPRIS network, the successful candidate will have access to the various training activities organized by the network. CIPRIS aims at the development of the next generation of young researchers with appropriate skills in rare-earth-based information technology - pushing it towards commercial applications. CIPRIS offers a large variety of training actions, e.g. mini schools, laboratory courses, secondments to the private sector, or training sessions to strengthen complementary skills and contacts to the private sector.

Requirements and conditions

Candidates must hold an internationally-recognized master-degree (or evidence of its completion in the nearest future) in a related field.

Selection is based on merit and potential, measured in terms of the academic record and personal achievements. Proactivity, participation in community activities, and capacity for team-work are also taken into account.

The candidate should hold appropriate expertise from her/his studies or MSc project to contribute to the research field in CIPRIS, e.g. coherent interactions between light and matter, implementations of quantum memories and quantum information processing, and spectroscopy for optical data storage and quantum information. In particular, we are looking for clever candidates with profound scientific knowledge, proven by a MSc university degree with excellent marks, experimental experience, as well as pronounced communication and management skills. The job also requires very good skills in English language.

Due to the rules of Initial Training Networks, eligible candidates for the positions as early-stage researchers (PhD students) must come from abroad, have not resided more than 12 of the last 36 months in Spain, and hold less than 4 years of research experience after the MSc degree.

The successful candidates will be paid according to EU standards for Early Stage Researchers. The fellowship is offered for a period of three years.

Application procedure

To apply, suitable candidates are requested to submit (in English):
- A presentation letter with declaration of research interests,
- A Curriculum Vitae, including contact details,
- Scanned copies of your complete (Bachelor and Master equivalent) University academic transcripts in English or Spanish,
- Scanned copies of the degree certificates, if available at the time of application,
- The contact e-mail of two potential referees.
- If available, scanned copy of standardized test results (GRE, TOEFL, etc.). Note that submission of test results is optional, but they can be particularly helpful for evaluating candidates with degrees obtained outside the European Higher Education Area.

Note that the applications shall be submitted exclusively online via http://jobs.icfo.eu/index.php?detail=76. Required application material (see above) must be complete in order to be considered.

Please note that candidates should be willing to be contacted by phone during the entire selection process.

Review of applications will be accomplished on a rolling basis and continue until the position is filled.

Candidates may contact icfojobs@icfo.eu for informal inquiries regarding the application procedure. Informal (project-related) inquiries may be addressed to Prof Hugues de Riedmatten at hugues.deriedmatten@icfo.eu.

For further information about ICFO, please visit http://www.icfo.eu.