Two PhD Positions on Continuous Atomic Clocks
Two PhD Positions on Continuous Atomic Clocks
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Job Description
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 exciting journey towards the superradiant and zero-deadtime clocks. We are the ultracold strontium group at the University of Amsterdam and you can read more about the project here.
Join Us!
This PhD position is part of the European doctoral network QuRIOUS which has received funding from the European Unions Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement number . 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 two new types of optical clock. Optical clocks are the most precise measurement instruments in the world going wrong by only one second over the lifetime of the universe. They enable searches for beyond standard model physics can explore quantum many-body systems and have practical applications in geodesy navigation and network synchronization.
State-of-the-art optical clocks are working in a pulsed fashion and need hours of averaging to reach their final accuracy. A main goal of our research is to reduce this to a few minutes which would open new opportunities for clocks. We want to achieve this by creating clocks that can be operated truly continuously using technology that we have developed to achieve continuous Bose-Einstein condensation Nature 606 683 (2022). We are building two types of such clocks: a superradiant clock and a zero-deadtime clock. A superradiant clock is a laser that lases on an ultranarrow optical transition. You can read about our plans for this clock in Sheng Zhous PhD thesis. For the zero-deadtime clock we supply atoms from a continuous ultracold Sr source to four clock interrogation zones that are in one vacuum chamber. Clock interrogation can always be executed in at least one zone while others are reloaded with atoms enabling continuous operation. We have one PhD opening on each of these sub-projects.
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 1 October 2025 or as soon as possible after 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 strontium quantum gases group is headed by Prof. Florian Schreck and is part of the Quantum Gases & Quantum Information cluster at 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 by email to in addition by an online submission via the button below. We accept applications until and including 31.1.2026.
If you have any questions or do you require additional information Please contact:
Florian Schreck
Applications should include the following information (for the application through this website: all files besides your cv should be submitted in one single pdf file; for the application by email: simply describe everything except the CV in the email itself and attach your CV):
- a detailed CV including the months (not just years) when referring to your education and work experience;
- a short letter of motivation;
- a link to your master thesis if you already wrote it or a short description of what it will contain;
- the name and email address of your master thesis supervisor or another reference who can provide a letter of recommendation.
A knowledge security check can be part of the selection procedure.
(for details:national knowledge security guidelines)
Employment Type
Full Time
