Who are we?

We are the Magnetism Group at the Department of Condensed Matter Physics of Charles University. Our research topics are for example frustrated magnets, layered van der Waals materials or magnetoelastic hybridization. We have access to a lot of material growth and characterization techniques (such as 20T magnet, laser furnace, SSE and many more) as a part of MGML research infrastructure.

The thesis will be supervised by two young scientists: Petr Čermák in Prague (PI of the MaMBA project funded by the Czech Science Foundation) and Johanna K. Jochum in Garching (instrument scientist of the spin-echo spectrometer RESEDA).

What’s the project?

The search for quantum spin liquids has identified spin-½ Kagome lattices with nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic Heisenberg coupling as prime candidates for hosting this new state of matter. However, many of the materials with such a magnetic structure exist only in natural minerals.

Inelastic neutron scattering is an indispensable tool to investigate the (magnetic) ground states of matter, making it one of the key techniques used in identifying quantum spin liquids. However many of the materials proposed to host this new state of matter do not produce large enough crystals for inelastic neutron scattering studies. It would therefore be necessary to co-align several hundreds of crystals to create a suitable sample. Such alignment processes can take up to several months and require a lot of manpower. We will accomplish this formidable task using the newly constructed state-of-the-art instrument ALSA which will automatize the coalignment process using artificial intelligence.

After careful co-alignment with ALSA we will use quasi- and inelastic neutron scattering to investigate the samples. In particular we will use the spin-echo spectrometer RESEDA. RESEDA combines the extremely high resolution of spin-echo spectrometers with the possibility for large applied magnetic fields needed to study quantum fluctuations.

Your profile?

Must have:

• Master in condensed matter physics/material science (or finishing your master this semester).
• Ability to work in a team as well as on its own.
• Interest in Instrument development and artificial intelligence.
• Ability to work well under pressure in a fast-developing environment.

Good to have:

• Practice with crystal growth or the physics of low-dimensional magnetic structures.
• Experience in inelastic (neutron) scattering.
• Knowledge of Python.

What we are offering:

• 3 years full-time position with flexible working hours (starting May 2022).
  Two years will be spent in Prague while one year will be spent at the Technical University of Munich to study neutron scattering techniques and do scattering experiments.
• Work on a long-term project in collaboration with excellent scientists.
• Modern offices in the center of Prague, Czech Republic — the heart of Europe.
• Full funding is available to the candidates from all over the world.

The deadline for the applications is 4th March.