Postdoctoral Appointee - Accelerator Physics and Free-Electron Laser Science

Argonne National Laboratory • Lemont, IL

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About The Position

The Argonne Accelerator Institute at Argonne National Laboratory seeks a postdoctoral researcher for a multi-year appointment contributing to the conceptual design of a compact, wakefield-driven X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) for attosecond science. The appointee will play a leading technical role in designing a next-generation compact XFEL capable of producing agile, tunable, coherent X-ray pulses, with flexible control of pulse timing, duration, intensity, temporal structure, and coherence, including multi-pulse and mode-locked operation. The work aims to establish a blueprint for a future compact light source that could complement the Advanced Photon Source and support studies of matter on attosecond timescales.

Working with a multidisciplinary Argonne team across accelerator physics, beam dynamics, wakefield acceleration, free-electron laser science, and FEL user communities, the researcher will lead beam-dynamics and FEL modeling activities, emphasizing start-to-end simulations of compact XFEL performance. Work includes developing and benchmarking FEL interaction and radiation-generation models; studying high-brightness, high-charge electron beams in multi-frequency linac architectures; investigating tailored electron-bunch phase spaces for tunable two-color and mode-locked X-ray pulses; and evaluating two-beam acceleration concepts, including power-extracting and transfer structures. The appointee will connect injector and linac beam dynamics to FEL performance through start-to-end simulations, explore AI/ML methods and automated optimization for design studies, contribute to a conceptual design report, and engage with prospective users and collaborators to align source capabilities with scientific needs in ultrafast X-ray science.

Requirements

• PhD completed within the last 5 years or expected soon in accelerator physics or a closely related field; candidates with degrees in physics, applied mathematics, computational science, electrical engineering, or related disciplines and a strong interest in accelerator and FEL science will also be considered.
• Strong programming skills, including proficiency in Python.
• Working knowledge of UNIX or Linux.
• Demonstrated background in computational modeling, numerical simulation, or scientific software development.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with accelerator physics, beam dynamics, or free-electron-laser science.
• Experience with machine learning, surrogate modeling, optimization, or AI-enabled scientific computing.
• Experience working with complex numerical algorithms and large parameter scans.
• Experience using high-performance computing clusters for simulation and data analysis.
• Experience with accelerator modeling and simulation tools such as ELEGANT, GENESIS, WarpX, ImpactX, RF-Track, or related codes.
• Interest in compact accelerator concepts, high-gradient acceleration, wakefield acceleration, or advanced light-source design.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical activities in beam-dynamics and FEL modeling, emphasizing start-to-end simulations of compact XFEL performance.
• Develop and benchmark numerical models of FEL interaction and radiation generation using tools such as MITHRA, WarpX, and GENESIS.
• Perform beam-dynamics studies of high-brightness, high-charge electron beams in multi-frequency linac architectures.
• Investigate tailored electron-bunch phase-space distributions for tunable two-color and mode-locked X-ray pulse formats.
• Study two-beam acceleration concepts, including power-extracting and transfer structures (PETS), for compact high-gradient accelerator designs.
• Carry out start-to-end simulations connecting injector and linac beam dynamics to FEL performance.
• Explore AI/ML methods, surrogate models, and automated optimization strategies for large-scale design studies and parameter scans.
• Contribute to a conceptual design report for a scalable compact XFEL facility, including performance studies, subsystem specifications, and design tradeoffs.
• Engage with prospective users and collaborators to align source capabilities with scientific needs in ultrafast X-ray science.

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits are part of the total rewards package.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree