PhD Position in Atom Interferometry

Are you eager to push optical atomic clocks to new levels in a lively, international research group? Do you enjoy creating complex machines that have never existed before? Do you want to explore physics that nobody else has seen? Maybe you want to join our team as a PhD on our journey to continuous cold and ultracold atom interferometry. We are the QG&QI group at the University of Amsterdam and you can read more about the project here.

Join Us!
This PhD position is part of the Gen-Q programme and applications must also be submitted through the Gen-Q website. Gen-Q has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement number 101217386. You will participate in network meetings across Europe, where you will learn about quantum technology from experts in the field and train essential skills, such as academic writing and outreach. You will participate in a summer school and regular consortium meetings with the other PhDs. You will spend time in the lab of a consortium partner.

This is what you will do
With this project, you will join a team of experimental quantum physicists at the University of Amsterdam who are building a new type of atom interferometer. Atom interferometers are quantum sensors that exploit the wave-particle duality of matter to achieve exceptional sensitivity to inertial forces such as acceleration and rotation. Their performance now rivals, and in some domains surpasses, that of classical systems in gravimetry, gradiometry, and gyroscopy. However, most current implementations are pulsed and sequential, limiting their bandwidth, robustness, and scalability. Achieving continuous operation in a compact format remains a major challenge—particularly for real-world applications where size, weight, power consumption, and long-term stability are critical. This project aims to overcome these limitations by integrating recent advances in laser cooling, matter-wave optics, and coherent atom sources. It will build on the ongoing development of a continuous atom laser at the University of Amsterdam, which provides a steady, phase-coherent stream of ultracold atoms ideally suited for continuous interferometry. You will design and construct a compact rotation sensor using a rubidium atomic beam generated by a 2D-MOT, achieving mean velocities around 20 m/s and enabling interferometer baselines on the order of 20 cm. The interferometric architecture will be inspired by [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2046 (1997)] but adapted for modern low-SWaP operation, including Raman-based beam splitting and large momentum transfer techniques. You will characterize the sensor’s performance—such as sensitivity, scale factor, and stability—while exploring advanced quantum control protocols to enhance atom-optical element fidelity. A key long-term goal will be to integrate a continuous atom laser into the system, enabling true continuous-wave operation. This work will contribute to the development of a new class of compact, high-performance inertial sensors, paving the way toward practical quantum sensing platforms for mobile and embedded applications.

This project is embedded in the QDNL Ultracold Atom Quantum Sensing Testbed, which will allow you to learn about many interesting projects related to your PhD, such as creating a European optical time and frequency distribution network, building an industry prototype of an optical clock, building a continuously operating atom laser, or improving the way in which optics is built. Our group has furthermore quantum simulation experiments using Rb-Sr mixtures or single Sr atoms in optical tweezer arrays and experiments with ions. Your PhD project will profit from synergy with all these activities.

What we ask of you

• at least 8 months of master project in experimental ultracold atom or trapped ion group;
• good team working skills;
• good English skills;
• experience with at least a few of the following: experimental work with optics, lasers, electronics, experiment control software;
• some experience with data analysis;
• strong letter of recommendation from master project supervisor;
• Beneficial skill: programming, including some languages of the following list: C, C++, Python, Matlab, Mathematica. Programming skills will be used to build experiment control systems, data analysis systems, and to perform numerical simulations of experiments.

For MSCA PhD positions it is required that the applicant shall at the date of recruitment be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and have not been awarded a doctoral degree. The applicant must not have resided or carried out her/his main activity (e.g. work or studies) in the Netherlands for more than 12 months in the three years immediately prior the recruitment date.

This is what we offer you
A temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (the initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years). The preferred starting date is between 1 October 2025 and 1 October 2026. The project should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students.

You will work in this team
The Faculty of Science has a student body of around 8,000, as well as 1,800 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.

The Quantum Gases & Quantum Information cluster Is part of the Institute of Physics (IoP) of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The main focus of the group is the use of ultracold Sr gases for novel precision measurement techniques and the study of many-body physics.

If you feel the profile fits you and you are interested in the job, we look forward to receiving your application. This call for applicants is placed by the Gen-Q network.

The application must be submitted through the Gen-Q website.

Follow the instructions there and select Grand Challenge B “Scaling up complexity in so-called qubits and sensors” and topic 27B “Compact Rubidium cold beam for testing and sensing: Matter-wave diffraction in 2/3D”. You must submit the same documents also via the button below. We accept applications until and including 31 August 2025.

A complete application must only consist of:

• Motivation letter
• CV
• Reference letter (cannot be provided by future potential supervisor)
• Ethics self-assessment
• Master's degree or any equivalent degree that enables to embark on a doctoral programme

All documents must be submitted as a single PDF file. Please put your family name in the file name. Please note that any extra non-requested documents will be disregarded. For further information regarding the motivation letter, see the guide for applicants. There is a template for the CV as well as a template for the ethics self-assessment. Please see the guidelines for more information on how to fill in the ethics self-assessment document. A knowledge security check can be part of the selection procedure (for details: national knowledge security guidelines).

If you have questions, please contact Gen-Q@eucor-uni.org.