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For our location in Hamburg we are seeking:

PhD student - Lasers for Inertial Confinement Fusion

Remuneration Group 13 | Limited: 3 years | Starting date: 01.09.2025 | ID: FSDO013/2025 | Deadline: 30.06.2025 | Full-time/Part-time

DESY, with more than 2900 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.

Over the recent years, DESY has also become an international hotspot for cutting-edge laser science. With the advent of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research in Germany, DESY will boost its activities in this thriving research field.

We are seeking two PhD students to join the IGNYTe project which is funded by the German Ministry of Research, Technology and Space in the scope of the Fusion 2040 programme. After reaching scientific gain in laser-driven ICF experiments at the National Ignition Facility, there is a global endeavour to turn the scientific milestone into practical application. The IGNYTe project addresses the currently unresolved challenge of creating an efficient ultraviolet (UV) light source that can suppress spurious nonlinearities in direct drive fusion target compression. As part of the IGNYTe team, you will develop a laser comprised of a shapeable incoherent fibre front-end, low-temperature cooled Joule-class Yb:YLF amplifiers and novel broadband third-harmonic generation schemes.

About your role:

Laser development position

  • Develop fibre or solid-state laser front-ends based on coherent and incoherent seed sources
  • Implement intelligent control over spectral and temporal shapes of broadband nanosecond laser pulses

Broadband UV-generation position

  • Implement nonlinear multi-pass cells for spectral broadening of UV light
  • Investigate third-order nonlinearities for energetic temporally incoherent drive fields

General tasks

  • Collaborate closely with other laser research groups at DESY and with our international partners
  • Integrate your developments into the control system of the facility and advance their technology readiness levels (TRLs) as far as possible
  • Present your work at conferences and in scientific publications

Good reasons to join:

  • Advance one of the hottest topics in laser science and collect experience in the rapidly growing fields of optics and photonics
  • Contribute to highly important fusion energy research
  • Work in an excellently equipped research centre with cutting-edge laboratories and on-site computer clusters
  • Enjoy the highly international work environment and benefit from our renowned collaborators across the globe
  • No teaching requirement, you can spend your working time for research

Look forward to a unique working environment on our international research campus. Respectful cooperation and the well-being of our DESY employees are particularly important to us. Gender equality is an important aspect for us. You will benefit from our family-friendly and collegial atmosphere, our established health management and occupational pension provision. As a public funded employer, we offer you a secure workplace and facilitate your individual career with our comprehensive training and development opportunities. Remuneration is according to the regulations of the TV‑AVH. DESY offers its employees a financial supplement for a German job ticket (Deutschland-Ticket) at both locations.

About you:

  • Master’s (or equivalent) degree in physics, optics or related fields
  • At least six months of laser laboratory hands-on experience
  • Profound understanding of pulsed laser science and/or perturbative nonlinear optics
  • Team player with good communication skills
  • Good command of English
  • High motivation to work on the project

For further information please contact Dr. Marcus Seidel at +49 40 8998‑6034​
(marcus.seidel@desy.de)

DESY in Hamburg does not grant doctoral degrees directly but collaborates with the University of Hamburg. Candidates for thesis research will have to satisfy the terms of admission for doctoral theses of the University of Hamburg.

Please submit your complete application documents (cover letter, CV, university transcripts and two letters of reference) via our application portal. Please use our online tool for the submission of the letters of reference: Additional application documents

We look forward to receiving your application via our application portal:

Apply now!

DESY promotes equal opportunities and diversity. The professional development of women is very important to us and therefore we strongly encourage women to apply for the vacant position.
Applications from severely disabled persons will be given preference if they are equally qualified (sbv.desy.de).

You can find further information here:
https://www.desy.de/career

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
Human Resources Department | Notkestraße 85 | 22607 Hamburg
Phone: +49 40 8998-3392