Postdoctoral Fellow - RISE Inertial Fusion Energy Hub - Optics & Optical Materials

Colorado State University (CSU) seeks an independent, curiosity driven post-doctoral researcher to work on projects that investigate the synthesis of novel thin film amorphous materials for their application in the engineering of multilayer coatings for high power ultraviolet lasers and ultra-short pulse near infrared lasers. The research will also include the study of physical mechanisms that affect the coatings performance under intense illumination or illumination in corrosive environments as in the case of excimer lasers. The candidate must have experience in optical diagnostics and in the implementation of optical metrology.

The RISE hub located at Colorado State University Foothills campus has the goal to advance science and technology to support laser fusion. A research thrust of the RISE hub focuses on the synthesis, characterization and testing of dielectric coatings for high power ultraviolet lasers and ultrashort pulse near infrared lasers that are drivers for inertial fusion energy. Research at the RISE hub fosters innovation. The RISE hub Advanced Coatings Laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation for the synthesis of amorphous oxides thin films and for their optical and structural characterization.

Colorado State University is a land-grant institution, with enrollment of more than 33,000 students. CSU offers 76 undergraduate degree programs, 114 graduate degree programs, 21 professional master’s degree programs, and a Professional Veterinary Medicine program. CSU’s world-class research and scholarship attract more than $370 million in research funding every year, ranking second nationally in federal research funding for universities without a medical school. Fort Collins is an attractive community of approximately 170,000 located along the Colorado Front Range at the base of the Rocky Mountains, 65 miles north of Denver. The city is routinely recognized as one of the most desirable places to live in the United States. It consistently ranks high on quality of life measures by numerous publications; see https://www.fcgov.com/visitor/awards for the complete list. The Front Range has developed into a high-tech hub with companies such as Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, IBM, Intel, Keysight Technologies, Broadcom, AMD, Xilinx, Ball Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Woodward and Northrop Grumman located in or near Fort Collins. The city offers a pleasant climate with excellent schools and abundant cultural and recreational opportunities nearby. For more information on Fort Collins, check out the City’s website: www.visitftcollins.com.

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has 24 faculty members, 400 undergraduates, and 190 graduate students. It has cross-cutting research programs in biomedical engineering; communications and signal processing; computer engineering; controls and robotics; electric power and energy systems; electromagnetics and remote sensing; and lasers, optics, and applications. In 2015, the National Science Foundation selected the ECE department to lead the nation to scalable and sustainable change in engineering education through its Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) program. Impressively, CSU was the first ECE department chosen by the NSF for this highly competitive initiative of national importance. The department participates in the CSU Information Science and Technology Center (ISTeC), the CSU-CHILL National Radar Facility, and the NSF Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere. It is home to the headquarters of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Science and Technology. ECE boasts three Colorado State University Distinguished Professors and one University Distinguished Teaching Scholar, the highest recognition available for CSU faculty. More than 40% of ECE faculty hold IEEE Fellow distinction, and many faculty have courtesy appointments in the departments of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, and Systems Engineering and collaborate with faculty in these and other departments across CSU. More information on the department can be found at www.engr.colostate.edu/ece.

Colorado State University is located in Fort Collins at the foothills of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. The city is consistently ranked as one of the best places to live in the United States.
 

The RISE Hub exists within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). ECE has 25 faculty members, 350 undergraduates, and 250 graduate students. More information can be found at lasers.colostate.edu and www.engr.colostate.edu.