We offer 1 postdoctoral position in the field of experimental particle astrophysics at the Particle Astrophysics Technology Centre (Astrocent) implemented at the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center as part of the International Research Agendas programme of the Foundation for Polish Science, supported by the European Funds for a Modern Economy. The main focus of Astrocent is to conduct research in science and technology in the areas of particle astrophysics that deal with exploring the hidden Universe.
Our group leads the development and testing of materials converting UV into visible light (wavelength shifters, WLS; or luminescent downshifters, LDS), scalable to very large surface areas of hundreds and thousands of square meters, for applications in very large dark matter and neutrino detectors, and potentially also in photovoltaics.
While multiple alternatives are under consideration, we are currently focusing on polymeric foils, based on materials such as polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) or similar, because of their scalability potential, see e.g. https://indico.cern.ch/event/1390649/contributions/6061534/. We aim to optimise their synthesis and production for the highest conversion efficiency and durability under UV exposure.
The successful candidate will lead the work on development, detailed characterisation and testing, including in extreme cryogenic environments under exposure to vacuum UV light, of new wavelength shifter and scintillator formulations. The research will be conducted in cooperation with the Łukasiewicz Industrial Chemistry Institute (Warsaw) and other partners in Poland and abroad.
This project offers a unique opportunity to gain multidisciplinary hands-on experience in precision instrumentation, novel materials, and data analysis within an international and collaborative scientific environment.
The group is active in DRD2, DarkSide-20k and ARGO collaborations and, with a network of industrial partners, explores practical and commercial applications of technologies developed in this context.
Subject: Development of novel wavelength shifters and scintillators
Supervisor: Prof. Marcin Kuźniak (mkuzniak@camk.edu.pl)
Application deadline: 20 April 2026, 9:00 am CEST
(interviews for shortlisted candidates are planned for 21-22 April 2026)
Please, find the details of the annoucement in the attached file.
