NASA Postdoctoral Program - Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity seeks a postdoctoral researcher to develop superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPD) technology for applications in exoplanet transit spectroscopy, deep-space laser communication, and quantum optics. The research group is focused on advancing the performance of these detectors in every metric, including efficiency at mid-infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths, active area, timing resolution, maximum count rate, dark count rate, and pixel count. The ideal candidate would have experience in superconducting detector characterization and testing, device nanofabrication, development of detector readout electronics, and/or design and implementation of cryogenic detector instruments in field applications. This position is located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.