Postdoc in Particle Accelerator Physics

For our location in Hamburg we are seeking:

Limited: 3 years | Start: earliest possible | ID: MPO001/2026 | Deadline: 08.04.2026 | Full-time/Part-time | Remote work possible

DESY, with more than 2900 employees at its two locations in Hamburg and Zeuthen, is one of the world's leading research centres. Its research focuses on decoding the structure and function of matter, from the smallest particles of the universe to the building blocks of life. In this way, DESY contributes to solving the major questions and urgent challenges facing science, society and industry. With its ultramodern research infrastructure, its interdisciplinary research platforms and its international networks, DESY offers a highly attractive working environment in the fields of science, technology and administration as well as for the education of highly qualified young scientists.

The European XFEL is currently the world's most powerful free-electron laser and has, over the past decade, significantly advanced the ability to resolve the structure of matter with X-rays. Growing interest in ultra-hard X-rays is now driving efforts to extend the facility's routine operating range into the sub-ångström regime, where photon energies of 25 keV and above are required. Access to such high-energy X-rays enables larger penetration depths and the investigation of materials under highly absorbing or extreme conditions. Achieving these capabilities is essential for the continued development of the European XFEL. The facility's unique strengths, its high-energy linac and long, variable-gap undulator systems, provide a solid foundation for generating intense X-rays at 25 keV and or pushing the performance frontier toward 30 keV. However, the FEL output critically depends on the quality of the electron bunches. Producing low-emittance beams through advanced spatial and temporal laser pulse shaping, together with accurate modelling of the underlying beam physics, is therefore a key prerequisite for fully exploiting the XFEL's potential. Dedicated numerical and experimental studies of the accelerator and FEL systems are needed to enable scientific opportunities at photon energies.