DESCRIPTION: Outstanding highly-motivated candidates are sought to work at the UCLouvain (Louvain-la-neuve, Belgium) in collaboration with ULiège (Liège, Belgium) on the “SHAPE-ME” project,
focusing on the first-principles elasto-electrical control of magnetic functionalities, especially for curved van der Waals heterostructures.
New functionalities will be developed in the ABINIT (www.abinit.org - estimated more than 2000 users worlwide) software application, related to the treatment of the responses to several types of perturbations (magnetic, electric, elastic) for 3D and 2D systems, and their usage in the second-principle MULTIBINIT software application in term of model atomistic Hamiltonians. Such simulation tool will permit to explore and predict new artificial materials, to obtain magnetoelectronics by design in 2D heterostructures.
JOB REQUIREMENTS:
Postdoc / PhD candidates should hold a PhD / MSc degree in Physics, Chemistry, or Materials Science (or similar). Demonstrated coding experience and interest is required (FORTRAN is mandatory for the postdoc candidate, Python or C can be sufficient for the PhD candidate). Good knowledge of English, both written and oral, is compulsory.
ABOUT THE GROUP:
The retained candidates will join a large Belgium consortium, also with international collaborators: in the “SHAPE-ME” projet, ten positions are funded for joint work between the UCLouvain (X. Gonze and M. Giantomassi), ULiège (E. Bousquet), UAntwerpen (M. Milosevic, coordinator) and UGhent (B. Van Wayenberge), with collaborators at IMEC, Belgium (B. Soree), and U. Manchester (A. Geim, Nobel prize).
This consortium develops a whole chain of simulation tools going from first-principles to micromagnetism simulations, while IMEC and the U. of Manchester establish the link with experimental facilities.
In addition to this strong network, the researchers will join the international group of ABINIT developers, that are meeting on a regular basis, see e.g. https://abidev2021.abinit.org/ and https://abidev2022.abinit.org/,
and thus will benefit from an exceptional exposure to the development of a large software application, which will be high-valued in his/her further professional path.
CONTRACT DETAILS:
All positions are funded for four years, in the form of renewable one-year grants or contracts. One PhD student and the postdoc will be located at UCLouvain, with frequent visits to ULiège, while the second PhD student will be shared between ULiège and UCLouvain (joined PhD student - 2 diplomas). Salaries follow the legal scale for research positions in Belgium (indicatively around 2150 Euros for PhD and 2750 Euros for postdoc, after taxes). The PhD candidate should have obtained recently the MSc (no more than 3 years). The PhD candidate can also be finishing her/his Master degree and should therefore mention the approximative date of availability. The positions can start rapidly or in Summer.
HOW TO APPLY:
Applicants should send their CV (pdf) as well as a brief motivation letter and a description of their coding skills (with samples of pieces of code in annex) and scientific achievements, to xavier.gonze@uclouvain.be before June 30, 2022. They should also arrange for one letter of recommendation (at least two letters for the postdoc) to be sent to the same address by their writer, preferably before June 30, 2022 as well.