This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (NIST) Professional Research Experience (PREP) program. NIST recognizes that its research staff may wish to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest, thus requires that such institutions must be the recipient of a PREP award. The PREP program requires staff from a wide range of backgrounds to work on scientific research in many areas. Employees in this position will perform technical work that underpins the scientific research of the collaboration.
Research Title: Topological Superconductivity Engineering by Proximity Effect
The work will entail:
This post-doctoral appointment is to fabricate topological insulator devices to engineer and measure superconductivity in topological states. Tasks include but are not limited to growing topological insulators by molecular beam epitaxy and chemical vapor deposition methods and fabricating the materials into device architectures for local probe measurements using scanning tunneling microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and quantum transport at ultra-low temperatures.
Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:
- Growing topological materials with assistance from NIST staff.
- Develop chip-flip techniques at NIST to produce ultra-clean interfaces.
- Operating cryogenic instrumentation, including dilution refrigerator, cryogenic thermometry, and superconducting magnet systems.
- Operating cryogenic scanning probe microscopes, including scanning tunneling microscopes and atomic force microscopes.
- Presenting results at internal meetings and occasional meetings with external stakeholders.
- Participating in writing papers describing the results.
- Ensuring that results, protocols, software, and documentation have been archived or otherwise transmitted to the larger organization.
Qualifications
- A PhD degree in Physics.
- Four or more publications on topological materials.
- Experience with working with topological materials, including MoS2, WSe2, WS2, and MnBiTi alloys.
- Experience with ultra-high vacuum techniques and procedures.
- Experience with operating a scanning probe microscope at cryogenic temperatures
- Experience with chip-flip technology to produce ultra-clean topological interface devices.
- Experience in molecular beam epitaxy and chemical vapor deposition.
- Experience with analysis tools including Raman Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Photoluminescence spectroscopy.
- Familiarity with data analysis tools, including Origin, Mathematica, and Python.
- Strong oral and written communication skills.
The university is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer that does not unlawfully discriminate in any of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.