Postdoctoral Fellow (PREP0004186) Full-time

Postdoctoral Fellow

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Professional Research Experience Program (PREP). NIST recognizes that its research staff may want to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest and, therefore, requires those institutions to be recipients of a PREP award. The PREP program involves staff from a wide range of backgrounds conducting scientific research across various fields. Individuals in this position will perform technical work supporting the collaboration's scientific research.

Research Title: Research Scientist: Optical Trapping and Sensing of Nanoparticles (U.S. Citizens Preferred)

The work will entail: The Materials Measurement Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking qualified persons (U.S. Citizens preferred) to work on a NIST CHIPS R&D Metrology project that aims at developing measurement methodologies for the detection and identification of very low concentration of contaminants in liquid environments. The focus area includes optimizing photonic enhancement techniques for improving the optical scattering of single impurity particles. In this regard, surface engineering methods, theoretical modeling and optical microscopy are employed to design robust sensors for detection of sub-20 nm particles.

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Fabrication of optical cavities in a cleanroom/nanofabrication facility
• Simulation of optical micro- and nano-cavities for optical traps for nanoparticle sensing
• Construct/adapt optical microscopes for optical trapping and dark-field optical microscopy
• Perform single particle detection and spectroscopy in a microfluidic setup
• Perform different microscopies including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and optical microscopy (OM) equipped with a cryogenic stage for surface analysis
• Develop computer code (e.g. Python) for the development and analysis of optical cavities

Qualifications

• PhD degree in Materials, Electrical Engineering, or a related field
• Skilled in micro-fabrication, optical- and microfluidics, and optical sensing of particles
• Highly experienced in designing nanoparticle trapping techniques using optical methods
• Skilled in modeling electro-optical nano-systems to predict properties and fluid dynamics.
• Highly skilled in multiple scripting languages, including MATLAB, Python, Optiwave (FDTD), COMSOL, Proteus, Lumerical and LaTeX
• Demonstrated ability to develop prototype sensors integrated with optical fibers and detectors needed to detect and analyze the related data