Missions

Photonic crystals have revolutionised the way light can be confined and routed in a photonic chip. Recently, a new type of architecture based on topological photonic crystals has demonstrated almost perfect transmission through waveguides with sharp turns. This feature enables the design and fabrication of photonic circuits for ultrafast and compact functionalities in a chip.

One area in which topological photonic crystals have been largely unexplored is the THz domain, in which exists a great potential for ultra-high-speed wireless communication, with data rates far surpassing those of current 5G systems. We are currently hiring a post-doc with expertise in finite-element simulation to develop an on-chip topological coherent demodulator for THz signals and other THz on-chip devices using topological photonic crystals. The devices will feature waveguides, beamsplitters, mixers, and balanced detection outputs, integrated on a silicon chip. The post-doc work will focus on the design and simulation of the devices using finite element simulation software. The physics of the topological origin of the device performance will be addressed. Comparison of simulations with photonic chips fabricated at our microtechnology facilities will be an important task of the project. The main task will be the simulation and analysis of the device but, the post-doc will be able to take part in the fabrication and measurement of the photonic chips at the technological central of the IEMN institute at the university of Lille campus.

The position is part of the ERC Proof of Concept grant "TopoChipTHz" recently awarded to our group and of the ERC Consolidator grant emergenTopo.

Starting date: flexible, as soon as possible, no later than 1st October 2025

Duration: 12 months (possibility to extend to 12 more months)

Salary: 2428€/month net before income tax (~6%). 6 week vacations, medical insurance and social security benefits in addition to the net salary

Group website: https://photonlattices.eu/

Location: Laboratoire PhLAM, Cité Scientifique in Villeneuve d'Ascq (next to Lille).

Activités

Device Performance Simulation
Design Optimization
Exploring Innovative Designs for Broadband Topological Operation

Compétences

PhD in physics or engineering.
Experience in finite element simulations

Contexte de travail

The project is supervised by Alberto Amo and Gaëtan Lévêque at the University of Lille in France. We have a long-standing expertise in topological photonics and in numerical studies of topological photonic crystals [1–4].
[1] T. Ozawa et al., Topological photonics, Reviews of Modern Physics 91, 15006 (2019).
[2] G. Lévêque et al., Phys. Rev. A 108, 043505 (2023).
[3] A. S. Mohammed et al., J. Lightwave Technol. 42, 8323 (2024).
[4] G. Lévêque et al., APL Photonics 9, 126107 (2024).