Within the framework of the ERC Synergy project Q-Xtreme, the Nanophotonic Systems Laboratory (Pr. Romain Quidant) at ETH Zurich is searching for a motivated postdoctoral researcher to develop integrated trap designs to study coherent expansion and quantum operations on levitated nanoparticles in the quantum regime.

Quantum mechanics is a very successful and well-established theory on the microscale. A manifold of breakthrough experiments using atoms, ions and even large molecules have proven many astonishing predictions made by Quantum mechanics. Nevertheless, our everyday world behaves classical. In order to shed light on the transition between the quantum and classical world, we develop an experimental platform based on Levitodynamics to prepare a mesoscopic particle in its motional ground state and create the first quantum superposition on the mesoscopic scale. 

The Q-Xtreme consortium is a close collaboration between world leading research groups from Switzerland (Novotny@ETHZ, Quidant@ETHZ) and Austria (Aspelmeyer@UW and Romero-Isart@UIBK), that brings together complementary expertise and knowhow in optics, nanofabrication, cryogenic vacuum technology, instrument development, quantum theory and numerical simulations to tackle this milestone experiment. 

We are searching for a talented postdoctoral researcher to work on the engineering of on-chip hybrid electrostatic/optical potentials, and their application to levitated nanoparticles. Some of the main tasks cover:

• Design and characterization of electrical and optical micro- and nanosystems
• Numerical simulations of optical and electrostatic potentials
• Develop experimental setups for levitated nanoparticles
• Interact with collaborators from inside and outside the consortium
• Assist in the supervision of PhD and master students
• Write publications and promote the results at internal synergy meetings & international conferences 

Successful candidates must hold a PhD degree in physics or engineering and have proven track-record in micro- and nanofabrication. Experience in optomechanics, cryogenics, numerical simulation and automatization is beneficial. 

We look forward to receiving your online application including a letter of motivation, CV, list of publications and contact details of your referees.

Please note that we exclusively accept applications submitted through our online application portal. Applications via email or postal services will not be considered.

For further information about the Nanophotonic Systems Laboratory, please visit our website: https://light.ethz.ch. Questions regarding the position should be directed to Pr. Romain Quidant, rquidant@ethz.ch (no applications).