POST-DOCTORAL POSITION, in Plasmonics : Marseille, France

Organisation

Founded in 2002, the Institut Fresnel has built an international reputation based on its high-level, cutting-edge research activities in all the facets of optics and photonics. The Mosaic group of the Institut Fresnel is an interdisciplinary research team composed of 26 members including physicists and biologists, working at the interface between nanophotonics and bioimaging.

Job description

Postdoc in: plasmonics, and associated photothermal effects.

We have an opening for a postdoctoral position for 2 years, based on an ANR funded project awarded to Dr Guillaume Baffou. The general purpose of this position will be to investigate fundamental processes at small scales driven by photothermal effects of gold nanoparticles. This research thematics, named thermoplasmonics ¹, is currently very active, mainly due to promising cutting-edge applications such as photothermal cancer therapy, nanochemistry, heat assisted magnetic recording of single cell thermal biology.

The postdoc will have to possibility to carry out investigations in four research axes, with some flexibility, namely:

• new material in thermoplasmonics (titanium nitrides and graphene) ²
• single cell thermal biology ³,⁴,⁵
• thermal-induced microscale fluid dynamics ⁶
• nanochemistry ⁷,⁸

Although the core of the position is experimental, theoretical and numerical activities are envisioned.

The experimental investigations will be carried out using our dedicated optical temperature microscopy based on quantitative phase microscopy ⁹ which has already enabled several breakthroughs [8-14] and is pioneering the state of the art.

A full list of publications can be found here: http://guillaume.baffou.com/publications.php

Requirements

For this project we seek a postdoctoral researcher to handle multiple aspects of the projects related to thermoplasmonics. The candidate should hold a PhD in physics and should be skilled in experimental optics. Previous experience and/or particular interest in numerical simulations would be considered an asset.

This project is fundamentally multidisciplinary, as it can involve concepts in experimental optics, chemistry, cell biology, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, numerical simulations. We do not expect the applicant to be skilled in all these fields. We seek however a candidate ready to handle a multidisciplinary research project and willing to work at the interface between various areas of science.

Applications should be sent to Guillaume Baffou (guillaume.baffou@fresnel.fr) and should include:

• an explanation of the interest of the application in the project and along with his/her preferences regarding the 4 aforementioned research axes.
• a curriculum vitae, including educational background and publication list
• a concise description of previous research accomplishments
• contact details of at least 2 academic referees

This full-time position is available immediately, there is no deadline….