Photonics is widely regarded as the key enabling technology of the 21st century and its application and use in many scientific and industrial fields is accelerated though Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs), which combine many optical components into a miniaturized chip format. Similar to electronic ICs, PICs are revolutionizing areas such as healthcare, communication and sensing and have the potential to be disruptive to the whole society.

A diversity of PIC-based sensors have been proposed in the last years, such as environmental sensors (e.g. gas sensing), medical sensors (e.g. optical coherence tomography) and fiber Bragg grating sensors for temperature or strain measurement. In recent years, the fast developments in the automotive industry towards self-driving cars have motivated a strong interest on light detection and ranging (LiDAR), which is the cornerstone technology for monitoring moving objects with high spatial resolution.

A fully solid-state PIC solution will not be sensitive to vibrations and will offer a series of additional advantages over mechanical-based LiDAR concepts, such as miniaturization, potential low-cost (it can be manufactured in large volumes in semiconductor fabs), high scanning speeds (it relies on photonic circuits used for Gigabit Internet data transmission), and flexibility for adaptive scanning (since the beam forming can be done on-chip).

                                                                                                                                                              

Job description

At the TU-Eindhoven we have one of the world's best equipped cleanroom laboratories for research on photonic integrated circuits. We have demonstrated advanced Photonic IC's, integrating lasers, optical amplifiers, modulators and detectors with a variety of passive components in a single chips with dimensions of a few millimeters. See https://iopscience.iop.org/0268-1242/29/8/083001. The main application areas, so far, are in telecommunications and data communications, sensors and health. The new project envisages development of two fully integrated LiDAR systems one with a medium integration scale for use in avionics (helicopter landing system) and one with a high integration scale for use in self-driving cars.

We have two open positions in a large EU-funded project, called NewControl, coordinated by Infineon and executed in cooperation with a large number of European partners. In this project, TUe has a central role for the development of InP-based LiDAR transmitters based on optical phased arrays.

Position 1: LiDAR PIC for avionics (helicopter landing system)

The first open position will focus on design and characterization of LIDAR PICs in the photonic integration process of our partner SMART Photonics. This will include circuit level simulations, building up system-level know-how (incl. photonic-electronic integration), design of PICs with software tools, characterization of PICs with available and adapted dedicated setups (to be proposed by you).

Position 2: LiDAR PIC for automotive (autonomous cars)

The second position will focus on PICs with an ultra-high density of components targeting automotive applications.  The research includes modification of the fabrication process for a higher integration density, device-level simulations (optical, electrical, thermal), device and circuit layout, process flow design, and device fabrication in the Nanolab@TUe cleanroom.

We are searching for candidates with a background in photonic integration at a PhD level and with good team-work capabilities. For one of the positions we can also accept an ambitious and highly qualified MSc degree holder who wants to do his PhD on the subject.

Successful candidates should have good writing and documentation skills, excellent analytical and research capabilities and good communication skills. They must be able to organize their own work well and set and pursue their goals independently, while maintaining a high degree of collaboration with the team. Both members will contribute to achieve the general objectives of the NewControl project.

The candidates will collaborate with the NewCONTROL consortium, which includes experts on fabrication technology, electronic and photonic circuit design, photonic-electronic assembly, freeform optics, system-level LiDAR architectures, etc.

We are looking for candidates with PhD diploma (or MSc diploma for candidates who would like to pursue a PhD degree on the subject) in Electrical Engineering, Physics or Applied Physics. The candidates should have a background in semiconductor devices (preferably semiconductor optical amplifiers, phase modulators) and general knowledge about semiconductor physics, modelling and component design. Experience with on-chip beam steering is a plus. Experience with design and characterization of PICs, and/or cleanroom fabrication of III-V devices is of advantage.

We offer a challenging job in an ambitious research group through a fixed-term appointment for a period of 3 years for post-doc researchers (or 4 years for a PhD student). As an employee of the university you will receive a competitive salary as well as excellent employment conditions. The salary for a PhD student starts at € 2.325 per month (gross) in the first year, increasing up to € 2.972,- per month (gross) in the last year. The gross salary for a post-doc researcher lies between € 3.255 and € 4.274, depending on experience and knowledge.

Moreover, an 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year allowance is provided annually. Assistance for finding accommodation is available. The university offers an attractive package of fringe benefits such as excellent technical infrastructure, child care, savings schemes, and excellent sports facilities. Depending on the type of appointment, TU/e also provides opportunities for personal development by offering short courses in the PROOF program complementary to scientific skills.