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TwinMic Research Associate at Elettra EXTENDED UNTIL JANUARY 31
Deadline: 31 January 2025Ref: DA/24/61
Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste is an international multidisciplinary research center operated as a user facility, featuring a 2.0/2.4 GeV, third-generation synchrotron light source (Elettra), a new free-electron laser light source (FERMI) and a variety of support laboratories. The extremely high quality of the machines and beamlines has set new performance records and has been producing results of great scientific and technological interest. In order to allow the laboratory to remain competitive in the next 20 years, an entirely new source - Elettra 2.0 - belonging to the new generation of storage rings (DLSR or Diffraction Limited Storage Ring) is being developed. The new source will exhibit a major increase in the brilliance and coherence fraction of the photon beams. The Elettra 2.0 optics is based on our enhanced symmetric six bend achromat structure (S6BA-E) with a 12-fold symmetry and an emittance of 200 pm-rad at 2.4 GeV. The new structure creates also straight sections in the arcs permitting the installation of additional insertion devices, thus increasing the number of beamlines. Existing beamlines will have to be upgraded and new beamlines developed to take full advantage of the characteristics of Elettra 2.0. The new machine is scheduled for commissioning in the second half of 2026. See http://www.elettra.eu for more information.
Presently, the TwinMic beamline provides photons in the 400-2200 eV energy range and the its end-station can be used to perform high-resolution X-ray microscopy (STXM, TXM and ptychography) coupled with low-energy X-ray Fluorescence (LEXRF) and micro-XANES spectroscopies. At TwinMic characterization of various materials at the sub-micron scale can be performed, covering research fields such as novel materials, nanotoxicology, food science, neuroscience and clinical medicine.
Within the Elettra 2.0 program, important upgrades of TwinMic beamline are foreseen, which concern both the beamline photon energy range as well as the experimental station in order to offer additional imaging schemes and increase the lateral and spectral resolution of the existing ones.
See http://www.elettra.eu/elettra-beamlines/twinmic.html for more information.
The successful candidate will be involved in the operation, maintenance and upgrade of the TwinMic beamline and experimental station in order to meet the requirements of a broad user community. He/she will collaborate with the TwinMic beamline staff in the ongoing in-house scientific projects and technological developments, including the introduction of new imaging methods, such as ptychography, and the design of a new photon transfer system and a new end-station in view of Elettra 2.0. In addition, she/he will also contribute to providing high-quality support to external users, thus gaining opportunities for collaborative work at the frontiers of the field before the dark period starting in July 2025, when the removal of Elettra and the installation of Elettra 2.0 will take place. User operations of the new Elettra 2.0 facility is expected to start in January 2027.
The following qualifications are expected:
- Degree in Engineering, Physics, Materials Science or related disciplines.
- Proven knowledge of complex instrumentation design and development (i.e., synchrotron instrumentation, beamlines, experimental stations, detectors etc)
- Proven experience in at least one of the following experimental techniques: (i) X-ray microscopy, (ii) Ptychography, (iii) X-ray Fluorescence.
- Good oral and written communication skills in English.
The following qualifications will be considered as additional assets:
- PhD in Engineering, Physics, Materials Science or related disciplines
- Research experience in public organisations or private companies with a job description relevant to the present position.
- Experience with X-ray absorption spectroscopy
- Experience with procedures and methods for X-ray Fluorescence quantitative analysis
- Experience with Coherent Diffractive imaging and Phase Retrieval
- Hands-on experience with vacuum systems or cryo-sample environment
- Hands-on experience with soft X-ray optics and detector systems
- Good programming skills in Python for data analysis, use of Linux and CAD design
- Working knowledge of Italian
Good time management skills and ability to prioritize are expected, together with the ability to interact with staff and facility users at all levels and to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
