Missions

A senior post-doc position is currently available in the Atom Interferometry and Inertial Sensors team at SYRTE. The candidate will work on the development of an atom interferometer whose physical package will be a vapor cell containing rubidium-87 atoms. The R&D work will be conducted inside an international collaboration with industrial groups in the aerospace and inertial navigation sectors. The recruited candidate will contribute to the development of an inertial navigator and a vector gravimeter, with the long-term ability to enable high-precision inertial navigation, without GNSS assistance and compatible with defense applications.

Activities

Among the activities to be carried out there will be:
-Design and implementation of an interferometer with atoms in a vapor cell at room temperature
-Study and metrological characterization of the operation of the interferometer -Identification of systematic effects limiting the operation of the interferometer and implementation of adapted solutions via instrumental and AI techniques
-Reduced dead-time clock/accelerometry measurements

Skills

Technical expertise, knowledge and expected know-how in:
-experimental atomic physics and/or quantum optics
-instrumentation for atom interferometry (lasers, optics, electronics)
-Knowledge of machine learning, optimal control, artificial intelligence

Work Context

SYRTE, with 125 employees, is one of the world's leading laboratories in the field of metrology, primary time-frequency references and interferometry with cold atoms. The laboratory develops state-of-the-art atomic clocks and inertial sensors, limited by quantum projection noise. The laboratory's research activities have a significant impact in the industrial application of cold atoms. The world's first cold atom gyrometer was built at SYRTE in the Atomic Interferometry and Inertial Sensors team and its primary frequency references, apart from their contribution to International Atomic Time (TAI), also contribute to the operation of GALILEO.

The laboratory is located at 61 avenue Denfert-Rochereau, on the site of the Obseratoire de Paris (https://syrte.obspm.fr/spip/presentation/article/le-syrte?lang=fr).

The Atomic Interferometry and Inertial Sensors team of SYRTE is directed by Franck Pereira Dos Santos. Its aim is to study the possibilities offered by atomic interferometry for high precision measurements, and in particular for the realization of very high performance inertial sensors. Our team is a pioneer in the development of these sensors, and has an internationally recognized expertise, in particular in the metrological study of instruments. We have demonstrated the first cold atom gyrometer, were the first team to participate in international comparison campaigns of absolute gravimeters with our atomic gravimeter or to demonstrate the operation without dead time of this type of sensors. Our numerous contributions to the field (models for the evaluation of sensitivity and accuracy limits, development of vibration rejection techniques, demonstration of new sensor architectures, development of hybridization methods ...) are now widely used by other teams. Our work in gravimetry has been the subject of an industrial transfer to the company exail, which markets cold atom gravimeters based on a patented technology.

Constraints and risks

EU citizens only