Postdoc for the Photo Injector Test Facility PITZ

DESY, with its 2700 employees at its two locations in Hamburg and Zeuthen, is one of the world’s leading research centres. Its research focuses on decoding the structure and function of matter, from the smallest particles of the universe to the building blocks of life. In this way, DESY contributes to solving the major questions and urgent challenges facing science, society and industry. With its ultramodern research infrastructure, its interdisciplinary research platforms and its international networks, DESY offers a highly attractive working environment in the fields of science, technology and administration as well as for the education of highly qualified young scientists.

The Photo Injector Test Facility PITZ in Zeuthen (near Berlin) is one of the leading international groups in developments on modern photo injectors and their applications. Current R&D goals of PITZ include improving electron source brightness beyond state of the art and demonstration of accelerator-based THz pump sources for high repetition rate X-ray Free-Electron Lasers (FELs) like FLASH and European XFEL. Such efforts require reliable and comprehensive electron beam characterization, i.e. a detailed reconstruction for both projected and time-resolved phase space measurements. The focus of the offered position will be on further developments of tools for the characterization of high brightness electron beams and/or start-to-end beam dynamics simulations for e.g. commissioning the new THz SASE FEL beamline.

The position

• Develop, test and support software packages for low-emittance electron beam characterization and THz SASE FEL commissioning.
• Perform accurate modeling of experimental procedures for electron beam measurements including classification and analysis of systematic errors.
• Carry out start-to-end simulations of the beam dynamics in the photo injector for operation conditions as well as for future applications.
• Analyze experimental data and compare with start-to-end simulation results.
• Participate in shift operation for accelerator R&D at PITZ and /or European XFEL.

Requirements

• University degree in accelerator physics with PhD, with very good knowledge in accelerator physics and accelerator technology or equivalent qualification.
• Strong background in beam dynamics simulations of space charge dominated beams as well as in numerical and statistical methods.
• Good knowledge in experimental characterization of particle beams using image processing; good programming skills and knowledge of high-level scripting languages (Python/Matlab).
• Very good command of English is required and knowledge of German is of advantage.
• Excellent teamwork abilities in an international environment.