Job Description

Key duties and responsibilities

• Performing and creating rigorous and systematic experiments to optimise deep ultraviolet light generation in gas-filled fibres.
• Design and construction of ultrafast fibre laser systems.
• Building complete optical systems to generate deep ultraviolet light in a mechanically compact and robust platform.
• Working with ultrafast optical setups, including pulse compression, synthesis and measurement. Tuning and maintaining high energy ultrafast oscillator, amplifier and parametric amplifier systems. Building optical characterization devices such as spectrometers, and pulse measurement devices such as FROGs, including the development of new pulse characterization techniques.
• Running existing simulation codes and processing their results. Helping to develop new models and algorithms to simulate pulse propagation, the material response, and other aspects of our experiments. Coding in Julia and python.
• Writing, editing and publishing scientific articles in leading journals, and presenting results at international conferences.
• Assisting with the filing of intellectual property and technology transfer.
• Supervising the activities of junior group members and PhD students.
• Assisting in the day-to-day maintenance of the experimental facilities, liaising with companies and external collaborators.
• Getting involved in our outreach and advocacy activities, with roles that can be tuned to the specific preferences of the candidate but will involve for example interviews, talks for the general public and preparation of experimental demonstrators.

Travel

Regular short-term travel to visit collaborators and international conferences is expected.

Education, qualifications and experience

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Essential Criteria Applicants must have: A PhD in physics with a specialisation on ultrafast nonlinear optics or laser science, or extensive additional experience in these areas (or a thesis submitted by the start date of the project). Experience with one or more of: gas-filled hollow-fibre experiments, ultrafast fibre laser design and construction, deep ultraviolet light sources. A record of high-quality publications, and evidence of contribution to the writing of these publications proportionate to opportunity. A proven academic ability and a demonstrable high level of technical competence in experimental science and the analysis / modelling of the results. A strong theoretical understanding and thorough grounding in experimental techniques relevant to the project. The ability to articulate research work, both in technical reports / papers and by oral presentation. The ability to formulate and progress work on their own initiative. The ability to work as part of a team on the experiments at Heriot-Watt and more widely with the collaborators at other institutions. Desirable Criteria Experience with gas-filled hollow-fibre setups, including the design and use of gas systems, beam stabilisation systems and vacuum systems. Demonstrable experience with amplified ultrafast fibre laser systems: especially their design and construction. Demonstrable experience with one or more of: resonant dispersive-wave emission, modulational instability and four-wave mixing, in gas-filled hollow-fibre systems. Experience of writing instrument control software. Experience of writing numerical pulse propagation codes. Evidence of ability, subject to opportunity, to guide other researchers, e.g. PhD students and undergraduate project students. Experience of computer aided design of components and devices. Experience of collaborating with large multidisciplinary scientific teams, including those outside the group in which you work.