Advert below. Inquiries should be made by email to Dr Michael Tayler: michael.tayler@icfo.eu
The Atomic Quantum Optics Group at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO, www.icfo.es) is offering a PhD position in the fields of Spin-based Quantum Sensing and Control Techniques.
The position will be associated with Spanish Ministry (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Proyectos de Generación de Conocimiento) project MARICHAS,MAgnetic Resonance Imaging using Chip-scale Atomic Sensors.
At the center of the project is a goal of developing scalable, sustainable and artifact-free technologies for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a technique that is currently indispensable in health diagnostics and therapeutics. We will use atomic sensors (e.g. optically pumped magnetometers, OPMs) to support the translation of MRI to microfluidic platforms to open up new directions of research in multiple fields. Development of OPMs and related technologies using photonics will allow us to design protocols that give MRI increased efficiency when detected at low magnetic fields. High-resolution chip-scale MRI will support the timely emergence of techniques such as (i) tissue-on-a-chip devices under development in the bioengineering arena as candidates to streamline drug discovery and clinical trials, and (ii) new techniques in the MRI arena itself including hyperpolarized carbon-13 metabolism studies.
Tasks will include
- Development of precision magnetic imaging platform using latest quantum technologies
- Integration of atomic devices with microfluidics
- Application of multichannel atomic-sensor detection to enable best MRI sensitivity and resolution
- Applications to state-of-the-art microsystems including metabolic MRI and tissue-on-a-chip
Successful candidates will be based in the “Extreme Magnetic Sensors” research team, a section of the Atomic Quantum Optics Group at ICFO in Castelldefels. Here, extreme magnetic properties of atoms and nuclei are used to develop original technologies for precision magnetic sensing, fundamental and applied studies of soft matter.
The student will be jointly supervised by Dr. Michael Tayler (ICFO) and Prof. Morgan Mitchell (ICFO, ICREA). More information on Tayler’s research can be found at https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=5OS9nkYAAAAJ and Mitchell here: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=8HsmoPAAAAAJ
Further information about the group can be found on the group web page: http://mitchellgroup.icfo.es