DESY is Germany’s largest accelerator laboratory and a member of the Helmholtz Association. The accelerator division of DESY offers a program for Post-Doctoral and Doctoral Positions in Accelerator R&D.

QUICK LINKS

• What research fields are covered?
• What conditions must I fulfil?
• What are the application deadlines?
• How do I apply?
• What projects are we pursuing?
• Employment in Germany

RESEARCH AREAS

DESY is pursuing a world-wide competitive program in accelerator research with the goal to develop and optimize some of the world’s leading particle accelerators. Opportunities in the DESY accelerator division include:

1. Improvements of existing accelerator flagship facilities, e.g. upgrades to DESY’s synchrotron radiation
   facilities, seeding of free-electron lasers, atto- and femto-second electron and photon beams.
2. Super-conducting RF technology for future accelerators and its implementation in FLASH, the European
   XFEL and other modern high power accelerators.
3. Compact accelerator technology with high accelerating fields, e.g. plasma accelerators, dielectric
   structures, beam or laser drivers for accelerators, cost-efficient technologies.
4. New accelerator facilities for R&D, photon science and particle physics, e.g. future free-electron lasers
   (XFEL upgrades, PETRA IV), the SINBAD facility at DESY, PITZ, future colliders (e.g. FCC at CERN).

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CONDITIONS

The program is open to all interested candidates regardless of nationality, gender or race. We are looking for physicists, engineers and IT specialists who think beyond convention and have one or several of the following qualifications:

• Knowledge of basic electrodynamics or willingness to learn this
• Experience in the construction and performance of precision experiments, in development and
  usage of computer programs for simulation of complex processes and possibly experience
  in accelerator construction and theory.
• Enthusiasm for research, for the invention of new technical solutions and for the construction of
  science machines is required and replaces missing expertise in accelerators.
• The work will be performed in strong international collaboration with world-class research centers
  in the UK, Italy and the US. The use of English is required.
• Post-Doc positons require a PhD in physics or engineering
• Doctoral students in the fields of physics or engineering may stay enrolled in their home university
  or enroll at the University of Hamburg or the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg
  (acceptance criteria must be met).

APPLICATION DEADLINES

The program stays open all year long without fixed application deadlines. Please apply only once for the position you are interested in.
 

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

The application procedure is as follows: Inform yourself about DESY and the work we are doing. If you are interested please send your application to recruitment@desy.de

1. Letter of motivation, giving also type of position you apply for and your possible start date
2. Curriculum Vitae
3. Copy of relevant degrees
4. Publication list
5. Names of two reference persons (including e-mail address)

Our recruitement department will confirm the receipt of your application and take care of any further processes. For your application you can also use the step by step guide in our electronic online application system.

LIST OF PROJECTS

We perform accelerator R&D in several projects funded by the federal German government, the State of Hamburg, the European Commission and the Betty and Gordon Moore foundation:

• European XFEL: The European XFEL is a research facility currently under construction in the
  Hamburg area, Germany. From 2017 on, it will generate extremely intense X-ray flashes
  to be used by researchers from all over the world. The DESY accelerator division is
  responsible for its operation and R&D for certain future developments.
  Post-doctoral and PhD projects are performed on XFEL commissioning and on the
  development of super-conducting RF technology with high gradients, high Q and CW operation. 
   
• FLASH: FLASH is DESY's linear accelerator with a soft X-Ray Free Electron Laser. Accelerator
  R&D activities at FLASH include seeding. 
  Post-doctoral and PhD projects are performed on schemes and experiments towards
  seeded free-electron lasers.
   
• PETRAIII: PETRAIII is DESY's circular storage ring producing brilliant synchrtron light.
  Post-doctoral and PhD projects are performed on the extension of PETRAIII towards an ultimate
  storage ring. 
   

• SINBAD: The SINBAD project implements the future facility for accelerator R&D at DESY in Hamburg.
  The SINBAD project has established an advanced design and is presently in its construction phase.
  Post-doctoral and PhD projects are performed on schemes for producing ultra-short electron bunches,
  construction and commissioning of SINBAD, conventional RF technologies, diagnostics of ultra-short
  electron bunches, precise synchronization/timing and injection of the produced electron beams
  into ultra-high gradient acceleration technology.
   
• AXSIS: The AXSIS project is the only accelerator-related ERC synergy grant in Europe and is funded
  with 13 M€ by the European Research Council. AXSIS aims at building an apparatus that
  produces and accelerates electron bunches with THz laser pulses that drive advanced photo-cathodes
  and dielectric waveguides for particle acceleration. The accelerating gradients will reach 1 GV/m
  and electron bunches in the atto-second regime shall be produced for radiation generation
  through Inverse Compton Scattering (ICS). The produced atto-second X-ray pulses will be used for
  atto-second science on the photo-system II. Primary Investigators are F. Kärtner (DESY),
  R. Aßmann (DESY), H. Chapman (DESY) and P. Fromme (Arizon State University). The project runs
  from 2014 to 2020.
  Accelerator-related post-doctoral and PhD projects are performed on beam transport in dielectric
  structures, impact of imperfections, correction/optimization schemes and diagnostics of the
  produced electron bunches.
   
• EuPRAXIA: EuPRAXIA is one of two accelerator-related EU design studies that have been funded
  in the EU research program Horizon2020 (2014 to 2020). The project is structured into 14 working
  groups dealing with simulations of high gradient laser plasma accelerator structures, design and
  optimization of lasers and electron beams, research into alternative and hybrid techniques,
  Free Electron Lasers (FEL), high-energy physics, and radiation source applications.
  Accelerator-related post-doctoral and PhD projects are performed on start-to-end simulation
  of a 5 GeV laser-driven plasma accelerator, on required improvement/optimization schemes for 
  laser/plasma/beam with industrial quality, on the investigation of alternative or hybrid driver
  schemes, on the development of use cases for particle physics/photon science/other fields, on the
  design of user areas, on studies of possible sites and costs.
   
• "Accelerator on a Chip": This is a project funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation,
  a private foundation in the United States. The project includes researchers and facilities
  at Stanford University, SLAC, UCLA, University Erlangen, DESY, University Hamburg, EPFL, PSI,
  Technical University Darmstadt and CST. It's goal is the further development of tiny particle
  accelerators that are made of nanostructured glass chips smaller than a grain of rice. These
  micro-accelerators are powered with optical lasers and can accelerate electrons with up to 1 GV/m. 
  Accelerator-related post-doctoral and PhD projects are performed on beam transport in
  a chip-based accelerators, on the impact of imperfections, on preapring beam tests at SINBAD
  and and on the participation to experimental studies at the various facilities.
   
• AWAKE experiment: DESY is a member of the AWAKE collaboration on a proton-driven
  plasma wakefield acceleration experiment at CERN. Our fellows and doctoral students can
  participate to this experiment and can take responsibilities in data taking, beam setup,
  simulation and data analysis.
   
• Future Circular Collider (FCC): CERN is studying a future circular collider for 2030's. Presently
  the design for a 100 km particle collider is being developed. DESY contributes to this work
  and there are two PhD positions available for a 25% stay at Hamburg and a 75% stay
  in Geneva, Switzerland. Interested candidates should contact R. Assmann (DESY) and/or
  H. Burkhardt (CERN) and afterwards apply through the CERN doctoral student program.

EMPLOYMENT IN GERMANY

The detailed conditions of your position will be discussed during the hiring process. General information about the German public service have been put together by the German Minister of Interior (BMI) and can be found in the linked document titled "The federal public service - An attractive and modern employer". 

The DESY international office will provide assistance to prospective employees who are not German citizens. DESY offers various programs for optimizing work and life. The DESY housing office can help with finding an appartment or a house.