We are currently offering a PhD position in the context of the ITN Marie Curie International Training Network OMT (http://www.omt-etn.net/) on optomechanics.

If you are curious about new quantum technologies, come and join us in our explorations at the intersection of nanophysics and quantum optics. Our main focus is currently in optomechanics. This new field studies the interaction of light and nanomechanical motion, down into the quantum regime (read our recent review on optomechanics: http://journals.aps.org/rmp/abstract/10.1103/RevModPhys.86.1391). This opens the door towards quantum optomechanical circuits, many-body physics, potential applications in ultrasensitive measurements, quantum information, and fundamental tests of quantum mechanics.

We are offering

one PhD position for 3 years

(restrictions for eligibility according to Marie-Curie rules apply; especially you should come from outside Germany) at our group at the university of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. Our group is affiliated with the university but now mainly located at the recently established Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Light (www.mpl.mpg.de) in Erlangen. Besides optomechanics, our group studies many-body physics in cold atoms and electrons, decoherence, superconducting qubits, and transport through nanostructures.

Send your CV by email to: Florian.Marquardt@physik.uni-erlangen.de

Please arrange to have two letters of reference sent as well.

Interviews will be continued until suitable candidates have been found.

Prerequisites - Our work has both analytical and numerical components, and in most of the topics we have collaborations with experimentalists. Thus, computer skills and the desire to apply theory to real-world problems are strong advantages. We put particular emphasis on physical understanding.

Erlangen - The University of Erlangen-Nuremberg is the second-largest university in Bavaria. The physics department with 12 experimental and four theory chairs is in the process of strengthening the nanophysics/optics interface. Our group is located at the recently established Max-Planck Institute for the Physics of Light at Erlangen. The campus is situated in Erlangen, with the larger city of Nuremberg within thirty minutes distance.

Collaborations - We have ongoing collaborations with both experimental and theoretical groups all over the world, including at Yale, Caltech, McGill (Montreal, Canada), and others. In particular, we envisage collaborations within the OMT network, and visits to such other OMT groups are considered an integral part of the PhD work.

Write us - Join our team! Please send inquiries or applications to

Florian Marquardt (Florian.Marquardt@physik.uni-erlangen.de)