Currently Open Positions
Postdoctoral Opportunities at the Joint Attosecond Science Laboratory (JASLAB)
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Employment Type: Full-time, 2-year fixed-term appointment, with the possibility of a 1-year extension
Base Salary: In accordance with NRC’s Assistant Research Officer (AsRO) salary scale.
Benefits: Comprehensive health and dental insurance, pension plan, and vacation entitlements. Salaries are taxable and subject to standard deductions.
Application Deadline: Open until filled (early applications encouraged)
Start Date: Between September 2025 and January 2026
About the National Research Council (NRC) and JASLAB
The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is the government of Canada’s leading research and development organization. It offers a collaborative environment working closely with Canadian industry, universities, and other federal departments.
Your research will be based at the Joint Attosecond Science Laboratory (JASLAB), a partnership between NRC and the University of Ottawa, located at 100 Sussex Drive in Ottawa. JASLAB is part of the Joint Centre for Extreme Photonics (JCEP) and houses advanced infrastructure for attosecond and ultrafast optical science. Internationally recognized for breakthroughs in strong-field and attosecond physics, JASLAB promotes a highly collaborative atmosphere among experimentalists and theorists from around the world.
Who We’re Looking For
We are seeking enthusiastic and skilled postdoctoral fellows with PhDs in physics, a strong experimental background in ultrafast optics or attosecond science and spectroscopy, and a proven record of independent experimental research. Ideal candidates will bring expertise relevant to one or more of the positions listed below.
Available Postdoctoral Positions
1. Nonlinear Optical XUV-IR Mixing for Imaging of Electric Fields
Research Focus:
Develop bright femtosecond VUV (~8 eV) and XUV (50–100 eV) sources for nonlinear wave-mixing experiments. These will be combined with infrared and mid-infrared femtosecond pulses for imaging nanoscale electric fields in advanced materials and devices.
Essential Skills & Experience:
- Extensive hands-on experience with ultrafast laser systems
- Strong background in nonlinear optics or attosecond science
- Ideally: experience developing and characterizing VUV sources
- Ideally: proficiency with vacuum systems
- Ideally: practical knowledge of gas-phase high-harmonic generation (HHG)
- Python programming is an asset
2. Quantum Imaging of Electric Fields
Research Focus:
Advance ghost/quantum imaging techniques aiming for ~200 nm resolution or better to probe electric fields in materials and devices. The project is closely linked to ongoing work in attosecond quantum optics and explores the intersection of quantum nonlinear optics, photonic devices, and attosecond photonics to develop novel imaging modalities.
Essential Skills & Experience:
- Practical expertise in ultrafast experimental techniques
- Strong background in either quantum optics or attosecond science
- Ideally: experience with correlated/quantum imaging
- Python programming is an asset
3. Attosecond Quantum Optics
Research Focus:
Investigate the quantum optical properties that emerge during attosecond phenomena, such as high-harmonic generation and strong-field ionization. This project builds on pioneering work published by our group (Nature Photonics, 2025) in collaboration with theory partners including Prof. Brabec at the University of Ottawa.
Essential Skills & Experience:
- Experience with ultrafast experimental techniques
- Solid foundation in either attosecond science or quantum optics
- Python programming is an asset
Required Documents
To apply, send the following documents to Giulio.Vampa@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca:
- Resume (CV)
- Copy of your PhD Thesis
- For first-time postdocs: Academic transcripts (electronic copies are sufficient).
Previously Open Positions
PhD student position in ultrafast imaging of molecular processes (June 2023)
Our team is studying the ultrafast dynamics of individual molecules in the gas phase. The molecular dynamics is imaged using an ultrafast camera (called COLTRIMS or reaction microscope) which allows to measure the 3-dimensional momentum of single electrons and their parent ions. To trigger and interrogate such dynamics, we use intense femtosecond laser pulses.
We are looking for a highly motivated and talented PhD student with a strong background in physics, chemistry, or a related field to join our research team to shoot molecular movies of small and not-so-small molecules using this camera.
As a PhD student in our lab, you will have access to state-of-the-art equipment and facilities at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) in Ottawa and at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) close to Montreal.
You will be a student at the University of Ottawa, jointly supervised by Dr. André Staudte and Dr. Heide Ibrahim, and your lab work will be located in the Joint Attosecond Science Laboratory (JASLab), at the NRC building on 100 Sussex Drive, in Ottawa, which is a 20 min walk from the University Campus. During experimental campaigns, you will be working at the Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS) at INRS.
The JASLab consists of three professors, three technical staff, and about 10 postdocs and 10 graduate students. Your work will be in a collaborative environment with a small subgroup of a postdoc and at least one other student. ALLS is a laser user facility with a variety of high power, high repetition rate laser sources and a motivated technical team to support your experiments. ALLS is located close to the vibrant city of Montreal with a rich cultural and scientific community, providing an excellent quality of life both inside and outside the lab.
You will not need to work as a teaching assistant and you can expect to travel to conferences to present your research results to the community.
You will be trained in ultrahigh vacuum techniques, GHz signal processing, C++, Python, femtosecond lasers, ultrafast optics, and atomic and molecular physics.
The position is open immediately, but the start can be postponed until September 2023.
If you are interested in this challenge please send your CV and a short letter of motivation to andre.staudte@uottawa.ca and heide.ibrahim@inrs.ca . We will start the application assessment June 1st 2023; the position remains open until filled.