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University of Rochester: Office of the Provost: Academic Center: LLE-Laboratory for Laser Energ

Salary Range or Pay Grade

$82,500 to $110,000

Description

The UR has exciting opportunities for early career scientists to join the Laser-Plasma Interactions Group in the PULSE Division at LLE. With the success of inertial confinement fusion and the promise of direct drive for inertial fusion energy (IFE), the team is focused on supporting the community's path to a fusion power plant. As the lead institution in the IFE-COLoR (Consortium on Laser-plasma interaction Research) Hub, the team is developing experimentally validated models that provide confidence in IFE designs and is directly advising the top IFE companies around the world.

A key to direct-drive fusion is the mitigation of laser-plasma instabilities (LPIs), and the team is developing the scientific understanding of how laser bandwidth can be applied to reach the goal of robust ignition through both experiments and modeling. The successful candidate will join an excellent team of accomplished experimental and computational scientists, with direct responsibility to support IFE research through experiments and/or modeling.

In 2026, the Fourth generation Laser for Ultrabroadband eXperiments (FLUX) will begin experiments on the OMEGA Facility to demonstrate the mitigation of LPIs using laser bandwidth. These focused experiments will test our understanding of how laser bandwidth mitigates single-beam LPI (e.g., filamentation, stimulated Brillouin or Raman scattering) and multi-beam instabilities like cross-beam energy transfer and two-plasmon decay instability. Modeling to support these experiments will use the codes LPSE (Laser Plasma Simulation Environment), OSIRIS, and WARP-X, which are the foundation of our team’s development of reduced LPI models that are being implemented in radiation-hydrodynamics codes used to design integrated IFE implosions.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the science of one of the instabilities critical to IFE and lead FLUX experiments that refine our understanding of the effects of bandwidth on mitigating them at IFE conditions. Candidates will be expected to actively pursue publications in peer reviewed journals and present their work at national and international conferences.

The initial appointment period will be for two years. Renewal will be contingent on performance and continuation of funding.

Qualifications

Ph.D. in Physics or an equivalent technical field

Application Instructions

Upload a current CV and cover letter

SALARY RANGE: $82,500 to $110,000 Yearly

The referenced pay range represents the minimum and maximum compensation for this job. Individual annual salaries/hourly rates are set within the job's compensation range, and determined by considering factors including, but not limited to, market data, education, experience, qualifications, expertise of the individual, and internal equity considerations.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

EOE, including disability/protected veterans

The University of Rochester is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving an inclusive and welcoming culture to advance the University’s Mission to Learn, Discover, Heal, Create – and Make the World Ever Better. In support of our values and those of our society, the University is committed to not discriminating on the basis of age, color, disability, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, military/veteran status, national origin, race, religion/creed, sex, sexual orientation, citizenship status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law (Protected Classes). This commitment extends to non-discrimination in the administration of our policies, admissions, employment, access, and recruitment of candidates for all persons consistent with our values and based on applicable law.