The PULS group (Photonics and Ultrafast Laser Science), led by Prof. Clara Saraceno, currently consists of around 25 members. Spanning PhD students, postdocs, and technical staff, with an internationally diverse composition.
The group's working language is English throughout, making it easy for international applicants to integrate from day one.
The lab is equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, offering plenty of room for hands-on, independent work on ultrafast laser systems and THz sources.
The first year is typically shaped by an intensive onboarding period: new members familiarize themselves with the lab infrastructure, get up to speed on ongoing projects, and work with their supervisors to develop their own research direction.
Check out the open positions below. Interested applicants should send their application — including a CV, a short motivation letter, and relevant transcripts — by email to puls-office@ruhr-uni-bochum.de.
Supervisor: Robin Löscher
Responsibilities:
• Completion and alignment of white-light interferometer setup
• Integration of exotic 2-μm light sources and detectors
• Development of Python-based data processing algorithms for GDD extraction
• System benchmarking with reference samples and uncertainty analysis
• Characterization of experimental dispersive mirrors and optical components
General project description:
Implementing group delay dispersion (GDD) measurements in an ultra-broadband white-light interferometer.
GDD characterization is critical for ultrafast laser
development, especially for soliton mode-locked oscillators and post-compression of ultrashort laser pulses.
You will complete the existing interferometer setup with appropriate broadband light sources, polarization management, and detectors for the exotic 2-μm spectral region.
The project establishes critical measurement infrastructure while providing hands-on experience with precision interferometry, advanced data analysis, and ultrafast optics fundamentals.
Further reading:
A. Gosteva et al., "Noise-related resolution limit of dispersion measurements with white-light interferometers,"
Journal of the Optical Society of
America B 22, 1868 (2005)