Postdoctoral Fellowship (11) at Aalto University, Finland

As a postdoctoral researcher in this project, you will work on mathematical models for describing the radio environment and to design algorithms for estimating, for example, the location and spectral characteristics of signal sources based on measurements collected from antenna arrays. In the project, a cornerstone will be the use of theory and methods from optimal mass transport and convex modeling. The goal of the project is to make foundational theoretical contributions and to develop tools relevant for industry applications.

The research will focus on developing and using machine learning algorithms to discover novel materials and to build generative models capable of breakthroughs. The research will mix state of the art numerical skills with analytic understanding. Your task is to predict new classes of materials that have not been considered before, beyond substitutional frameworks, and target desirable properties such as high critical temperature. The work is done in close collaboration with experimentalists: the most promising materials will be synthesized, providing direct feedback on theory analysis and further predictions. The goal is to develop a theoretical and computational approach that has strong predictive power for finding completely new types of materials.     

We are searching for a Postdoctoral Researcher with excellent numerical skills and a deep understanding of condensed-matter physics concepts. Experience in machine learning, DFT, symmetry aware learning, material science, and group theory is required.

Andrei Bernevig is a leading scientist in the research of quantum materials and has, for example, predicted topological materials and developed a systematic approach to identify thousands of new topological materials. Päivi Törmä has pioneered the idea that quantum geometry allows supercurrent and superconductivity in flat bands where non-interacting particles are localized. For recent research outputs of the PIs, please see Andrei Bernevig’s entry at Google Scholar, and Päivi Törmä’s at Google Scholar.

The project advances predictive, human-aware autonomy for industrial vehicles and robots operating among people. The focus includes predicting pedestrian intentions, communicating machine actions, and estimating/mitigating risk in real time—toward safer, smoother interactions in urban and industrial environments. Results are disseminated through publications, demos, and stakeholder events.

The work will be conducted within the Mobile Robotics Group at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation in the School of Electrical Engineering in Aalto University, Finland. Supervision and collaboration of the project are by Assistant Professor Tomasz Kucner and Professor Simo Särkkä.

The postdoctoral researcher will be working in a project focused on plant biomass hemicellulose, lignin and middle lamella components solutions. The fundamental questions revolve around component miscibility. The ambition is to translate this knowledge into resolving challenges in forest biomass processing and in materials design. The aim for the postdoctoral researcher is to develop or deepen the existing skills in that area. The position is available immediately.

We are now looking for a Postdoctoral Researcher to help build an autonomous superconducting quantum processor in the Quantum Computing and Devices (QCD) group at Aalto University. The position is aimed at an exceptional cQED researcher who wants to turn recent component-level breakthroughs into a new system architecture for scalable superconducting quantum computing.

Instead of routing every measurement and control step to room temperature, our long-term vision is to provide readout, reset, control, and feedback functions inside the cryogenic environment. If successful, this approach can reduce latency, wiring burden, dissipation, and system complexity — and open a new path towards scalable superconducting quantum computers. This research direction, initiated by Prof. Mikko Möttönen, is supported by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, Research Council of Finland, and the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

We are now looking for a Postdoctoral Researcher in theory to join the Quantum Computing and Devices (QCD) group at Aalto University. This position is aimed at an outstanding researcher in circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) who wants to help shape the next generation of superconducting quantum technology.

The role is a natural continuation of a successful line of quantum-circuit theorists in the group and is now open as we recruit a successor to a departing circuit-theory researcher. We are especially interested in candidates with strong experience in the theory of cQED circuits and a demonstrated ability to translate theory into experimentally useful design principles, models, or analysis. Expertise in open quantum systems is considered as a strong advantage.

We are looking for a talented condensed matter experimentalist to work on time crystals realized in superfluid helium-3 on a world-wide unique ultra-low-temperature infrastructure at Aalto University School of Science. In this position you will have a chance to make fundamental discoveries in the physics of the new state of matter, time crystals, coupled to versatile topological materials. These discoveries may pave the way for applications of time crystals in quantum measurements and as long-coherence-time elements of quantum devices.

In recent years we developed one of the most robust realization of time crystals as Bose-Einstein condensates of magnon quasiparticles in helium-3 at temperatures below 200 μK. Our current goal is to couple such a time crystal to a nanomechanical oscillator to create an equivalent optomechanical system. As a next step, we will use well-developed optomechanical protocols to implement ultra-sensitive, potentially quantum-enhanced probes based on magnon time crystals and operating in the frequency and temperature ranges inaccessible to traditional optomechanics. Additionally, we intend to move the magnon time crystals within the superfluid using magnetic traps to build the first ever scanning microscope for topological phases of helium-3. This will allow to probe and control edge states at the topological phase boundaries and Majorana modes in the cores of half-quantum vortices.

Project 1: Gravitational coupling between nonclassical masses

This project aims to address one of the great unresolved challenges in physics: While quantum mechanics successfully describes low-energy phenomena, it is incompatible with general relativity which governs gravity and huge energies. The interface between these two has remained experimentally elusive, because only the most violent events in the universe have been considered to produce measurable effects due to the plausible quantum behavior of gravity. We aim at detecting gravitational forces for the first time within a quantum system. We use mechanical oscillators loaded by milligram masses and bring two such gravitationally interacting oscillators into nonclassical motional states. The initial phase of the project focuses on measuring the gravitational force between milligram-scale gold particles, representing a new mass scale showing gravitational forces within a system. This work is part of the ERC Advanced Grant project “GUANTUM: Probing the limits of quantum mechanics and gravity with micromechanical oscillators”.

Project 2: Remote connection and strong coupling in coherent electromechanics

We utilize “microwave optomechanical” devices, where micromechanical membrane oscillators interact with on-chip microwave cavity resonators. Optomechanical techniques allow for both preparing, measuring and manipulation of the mechanical quantum states. So far, true quantum states in such systems have been reached in only in physically adjacent components. We aim to extend this to remotely connected electromechanical systems capable of sharing a quantum state. This opens possibilities for fundamental studies in remote entanglement and quantum teleportation of mechanical states, as well as ultra-sensitive detection of weak, long-range forces—such as those predicted by physics beyond the Standard Model. Distant, coupled microwave optomechanical systems can also be utilized for quantum information transmission. In this project, two electromechanical quantum chips are connected via superconducting cables at millikelvin temperatures. The vibrating membranes will be realized with a phononic crystal radiation shield, enabling ultrahigh mechanical quality factors. In the project we are also interested in increasing the electromechanical coupling by creating a nanometer-size vacuum gap connection to the vibrating membrane via nanopositioning.  This work is part of European Union’s Quantera Program project “MQSens: Quantum Sensing with Nonclassical Mechanical Oscillators”, where opto-/electromechanics is utilized to explore how quantum protocols can be adapted to mechanical sensors in the quantum regime for various applications.

We are looking for a talented condensed matter experimentalist to work on time crystals realized in superfluid helium-3 on a world-wide unique ultra-low-temperature infrastructure at Aalto University School of Science. In this position you will have a chance to make fundamental discoveries in the physics of the new state of matter, time crystals, coupled to versatile topological materials. These discoveries may pave the way for applications of time crystals in quantum measurements and as long-coherence-time elements of quantum devices.

In recent years we developed one of the most robust realization of time crystals as Bose-Einstein condensates of magnon quasiparticles in helium-3 at temperatures below 200 μK. Our current goal is to couple such a time crystal to a nanomechanical oscillator to create an equivalent optomechanical system. As a next step, we will use well-developed optomechanical protocols to implement ultra-sensitive, potentially quantum-enhanced probes based on magnon time crystals and operating in the frequency and temperature ranges inaccessible to traditional optomechanics. Additionally, we intend to move the magnon time crystals within the superfluid using magnetic traps to build the first ever scanning microscope for topological phases of helium-3. This will allow to probe and control edge states at the topological phase boundaries and Majorana modes in the cores of half-quantum vortices.