Your main main task will be to design, construct and test a high-intensity cryogenic source of BaF molecules. Furthermore, you will develop a lens system that guides the BaF molecules from the exit of the cryogenic source to the entrance of a decelerator. In addition, you will perform test studies for a lens system for a BaF fountain. Location: VU Amsterdam.

With a recently awarded programme grant, we are starting an exciting new project to measure the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron. This property, which is predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics to be extremely small, is a powerful probe to explore physics beyond this Standard Model. All extensions to the Standard Model, most prominently supersymmetry, naturally predict an electron EDM that is just below the current experimental limits. We aim to improve on the best current measurement by at least an order of magnitude. To do so we will perform a precision measurement on a slow beam of laser-cooled BaF molecules. With this low-energy precision experiment, we test physics at energies comparable to those of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)! The eEDM programme research staff consists of Anastasia Borschevsky, Klaus Jungmann, Steven Hoekstra, Rob Timmermans and Lorenz Willmann from the Van Swinderen Institute for Particle Physics and Gravity (VSI) at the University of Groningen, and Rick Bethlem and Wim Ubachs from the Atoms, molecules and lasers group at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam. The experiment will be operated at the VSI in Groningen. To start this team effort we currently invite applications for the first round of PhD and postdoc positions.

For the experimental positions, we are looking for candidates with an (almost) completed Msc degree in atomic, molecular and optical physics, or a closely related field. The ideal candidates have a strong interest in experimental physics and particle physics. For position PhD3, candidates with prior experience in computational methods in theoretical chemistry or physics (and/or in programming) would have a strong advantage. The candidates should be enthusiastic about research, capable of learning new skills, and happy working both independently and in collaboration with other scientists.

Fixed-term contract: four years.

When fulfilling a PhD position at the NWO-I, the Institutes Organisation of NWO, you will get the status of junior scientist. You will have an employee status and can participate in all the employee benefits the NWO Institutes Organisation (NWO-I) offers. You will get a contract for four years. Your salary will be up to a maximum of 2,834 euro gross per month. The salary is supplemented with a holiday allowance of 8 percent and an end-of-year bonus of 8.33 percent.  You are supposed to have a thesis finished at the end of your four year term with NWO-I.  A training programme is part of the agreement. You and your supervisor will make up a plan for the additional education and supervising that you specifically need. This plan also defines which teaching activities you will be responsible (up to a maximum of ten percent of your time). The conditions of employment of NWO-I are laid down in the Collective Labour Agreement for Research Centres (Cao-Onderzoekinstellingen), more exclusive information is available at this website under Personeelsinformatie (in Dutch) or under Personnel (in English). General information about working at NWO-I can be found in the English part of this website under Personnel. The 'Job interview code' applies to this position.

Nikhef

With this eEDM programme a new research line of low-energy precision experiments is added to the scientific portfolio of Nikhef. Nikhef is the national institute for subatomic physics in The Netherlands. At Nikhef, approximately 175 physicists and 75 technical staff members work together in an open and international scientific environment. Together, they perform theoretical and experimental research in the fields of particle- and astroparticle physics. Among the research collaborations Nikhef participates in are the ATLAS, LHCb and ALICE experiments at CERN, the KM3NeT neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean, the VIRGO interferometer in Pisa, the Xenon1T dark matter experiment in Gran Sasso and the Pierre Auger cosmic rays observatory in Argentina. Nikhef also hosts well-staffed theoretical physics and detector R&D groups. Nikhef itself is a collaboration between five major Dutch universities and the NWO Institutes Organisation.