The CEA is a major French research agency and its institute
IRIG is devoted to fundamental research in the Grenoble Minatec (minatec.org) area. The
European Synchrotron ESRF is an international research institute situated in Grenoble, which operates one of the most powerful synchrotron X-ray sources. It offers a highly dynamic, exciting, and multinational working environment in the French Alps. As part of a collaborative research project, we propose for the 2022-2023 academic year.
The subjet
The Laue microdiffraction instrument (µLaue), installed at the European Synchrotron (ESRF) in Grenoble (BM32 beamline), is unique in Europe and probes the matter by diffracting a polychromatic X-ray beam of a few hundred nanometers. The acquisition of the Laue diffraction diagram is very fast and allows scanning the samples with high precision to get the structural parameters of mono or polycrystalline materials in terms of orientation, crystallographic lattice parameters and lattice strains. The possibility to measure the emitted visible and near IR light excited from X-ray (called XEOL for X-ray Excited Optical Luminescence) has been recently added to this instrument. The acquisition of XEOL spectrum is synchronized to the diffraction pattern collection so that to measure on the same sample’s location.
The Master subject consists in participating in the development of new ESRF experiments with our team (improvement of light collection and setup), performing materials science physics and optimizing data processing using image analysis algorithms, intelligent Laue diagram recognition and artificial intelligence. A specific focus will be laid on the determination of strain fields/rotations, and the nature of defects in nitride materials (In,Al,Ga-N) and its correlation with the emission properties. This new analysis method will allow the systematic treatment of a large amount of data by “serial crystallography” (term used in biology). We will study nitride materials that are of paramount industrial importance in optoelectronic and high-power devices.
The experimental work will be performed at the ESRF BM32 beamline, hosting the µLaue instrument, and the office will be located at CEA within the IRIG/MEM/NRS team. The candidate will learn the basics of XEOL and µLaue and the use of the analysis tools developed in the laboratory, he will interact with experimentalists at the ESRF for the building of a new upgrade of the instrument (called LaueMax) and participate to some experiments, and then develop new analysis procedures on already existing datasets.
This work will benefit from the Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS) upgrade of the ESRF, recent fast pixel detector, and continuous development of the LaueTools program for diffraction pattern analysis. It will participate to two French ANR initiatives: MAGNIFIX (upgrade of the 5 French-CRG beamlines: optics and new setups) and DIADEME (French research priority program: automation, artificial intelligence). The student will belong to the CEA synchrotron X-ray team and will benefit from the French-CRG infrastructure.
You should hold a Master degree in Physics, Materials Science, Nanoscience, or closely related. Interest in the field of semiconductor physics, skills in machine learning, image analysis and Python/Notebooks (programming language at ESRF) would be an asset.
You should be motivated by experimental work. In addition, you should have:
· Ability to get to the heart of the problem and take it effectively through to completion;
· Self-motivation and initiative attitude;
· Good interpersonal, communication, and presentational skills;
· Good organizational and planning skills;
· Will to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
We expect the Master 2 internship to be followed by a PhD-thesis on the same subject (the detailed PhD subject is upon request).
The internship is expected to start in spring 2023 for a minimum duration of four months (up to 6)
Interested applicants should submit:
- A 1-page letter stating motivations,
- A curriculum vitae, and
- Contact information for 2 references (reference letters are not required at this time) to
Before the application deadline of
January 1st, 2023.