Geneva, 2023-05-22

Open PhD Positions – BASE Collaboration - CERN

The BASE experiment at the antimatter factory of CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, is using advanced cryogenic multi-Penning-trap techniques to compare the fundamental properties of protons and antiprotons with ultra-high precision. Our work is inspired by the striking imbalance of matter over antimatter in our Universe, whose origin has yet to be understood. Any measured difference between the fundamental properties of protons and antiprotons, such as magnetic moments and charge-to-mass ratios, will challenge the Standard model and hint at exotic physics, that might contribute to better understand why the universe as we know it actually exists.

To conduct our experiments, we have developed the world’s most sensitive magnetic moment spectrometer, incorporating ultra-low-noise traps, highly sensitive single-particle detection systems, advanced magnetic shielding systems, and inventive measurement protocols. Using these techniques, we have performed the most precise test of matter/antimatter symmetry in the baryon sector, by comparing the antiproton/proton charge-to-mass ratios with a fractional accuracy at the level of 16 parts in a trillion. In addition, our 1.5ppb comparison of proton and antiproton magnetic moments improved the previous best CPT test in that sector by more than a factor of 3000.

To advance our experiments with the goal to perform future studies at further improved measurement accuracy, we are looking for motivated, self-driven, committed, and inspired PhD candidates, that contribute to the development and implementation of improved precision instruments and advanced measurement protocols.

You will be working in the inspiring and competitive environment of CERN’s antimatter factory, in a team with about 10 highly motivated young professional co-workers at the PhD and Post-Doc level, dealing with

  • …the implementation of phase sensitive frequency measurement techniques,
  • …the development of further advanced trap systems,
  • …the implementation of matter/antimatter crystal spectroscopy, and
  • …the optimization of cooling traps for ultra-fast sub-thermal cooling cycles.

Within the framework of the BASE collaboration, you will connect to our partner experiments that work on the development of sympathetic cooling of protons by coupling the particles to laser-cooled Be ions, and that implement quantum logic spectroscopy inspired techniques to further enhance future measurement accuracy.

While dealing with the technological aspects of BASE, you will accumulate experience in cryogenic engineering, the development of ultra-sensitive superconducting single particle detection systems and cryogenic detection electronics, the implementation of improved magnetic shielding and trap tuning systems, as well as the implementation, commissioning, and characterization, of coherent spin quantum spectroscopy protocols executed with single antimatter spins. You will be contributing to using all these techniques to test the most fundamental symmetries of the Standard Model and to constrain the physics beyond.

If you are interested in the technological aspects of cutting-edge experimental physics experiments operated close to possible resolution limits, that test the most fundamental symmetries of physics, contact Stefan.Ulmer@cern.ch. Please send your full CV, and if possible, two letters of recommendation. 

The available PhD positions are interlinked with Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany, the Max-Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg, Germany, and Leibniz University Hannover, Germany.  

Positions