The hybrid atom-ion quantum systems lab of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher with excellent laboratory skills for performing state-of-the-art atomic physics experiments and supervising PhD students.

You will work in a team that studies atomic quantum systems that are built up out of ultracold atoms and/or trapped ions. In particular, you will create and characterize a novel quantum system that is composed of a crystal of trapped ions interacting with a gas of ultracold atoms. Mixtures of trapped ions and atoms have been studied before in a number of groups, but reaching the low temperatures needed for entering the quantum regime has so far not been possible. Our system is at the verge of changing this by using an ion-atom combination with the largest mass ratio up until now: Yb+ and Li. This combination avoids previous limitations in attainable temperatures and calculations show that it should become the first atom-ion mixture to reach the quantum regime. Once created, we will study two applications of this new quantum system aimed at improving the trapped-ion quantum computer by buffer gas cooling it, and building a quantum simulator of fermion-phonon coupling and quantum impurity physics.

For these applications, it will be crucial to tune the interactions between the atoms and ions. For this, two novel schemes are at our disposal: (1) Feshbach resonances have been predicted to exist between the atoms and ions once the quantum regime has been reached. These can be used to tune the scattering cross section. (2) Our group pioneered the use of Rydberg coupling to tune the polarizability of the ultracold atoms and thereby the atom-ion interactions.

You will also be involved in a second experimental effort in our group, in which we seek to build a trapped ion quantum simulator using two-dimensional ion crystals. We will use novel optical microtraps generated by spatial light modulators to manipulate the sound waves in the ion crystal. This will allow us to engineer specific spin-spin interactions between the ions, or to engineer quantum gates between sub-crystals of ions. The resulting state-of-the-art trapped-ion platform can be programmed to perform quantum simulations of frustrated spin systems in triangular, hexagonal and kagome lattices. These complex systems are of key interest to understand emergent phenomena in solid-state physics, but are extremely hard to simulate on classical computers owing to the huge amount of entanglement contained in their ground states.

Relevant references:

• M. Tomza et al., PRA 91, 042706 (2015)
• H. Fürst et al., Phys. Rev. A 98, 012713 (2018)
• N.V. Ewald et al., arXiv:1809.03987 (2018)
• R. Nath et al., New J. Phys. 17, 065018 (2015)

• You hold a PhD in Experimental Physics or Physical Chemistry and are requested to motivate why you apply for the position and to supply a CV;
• proven excellence in experimental skills in an atomic physics lab;
• proven leadership and supervision skills;
• excellent English and oral and written communication skills.

The appointment will be on a temporary basis for a period of 2 years. Based on a full-time appointment (38 hours per week) the gross monthly salary will range from €2,709 to €4,274 gross per month.The Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities is applicable. Favourable tax agreements may apply to non-Dutch applicants.

University of Amsterdam

With over 5,000 employees, 30,000 students and a budget of more than 600 million euros, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is an intellectual hub within the Netherlands. Teaching and research at the UvA are conducted within seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Law, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. Housed on four city campuses in or near the heart of Amsterdam, where disciplines come together and interact, the faculties have close links with thousands of researchers and hundreds of institutions at home and abroad.  

The UvA’s students and employees are independent thinkers, competent rebels who dare to question dogmas and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and standard solutions. To work at the UvA is to work in an independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.

http://www.uva.nl/en/home

Institute of Physics

The Institute of Physics (IoP) of the Faculty of Science combines the Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute (WZI), the Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITFA) and the Institute for High Energy Physics (IHEF) and is one of the large research institutes of the faculty of Science at the University of Amsterdam.

The hybrid atom-ion quantum systems lab, headed by Dr Rene Gerritsma, is part of the Quantum Gases and Quantum Information (QGQI) cluster at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The group studies mixtures of ultra-cold atomic gases that are interacting with trapped ions. The main focus of the group is to study the quantum dynamics of these systems while at the same time developing technology for emerging quantum applications, such as quantum computing and simulation. Besides the PI and the vacant post doc position, the group consists of four PhD students divided over two experimental setups.

http://iop.uva.nl/