Research Associate - Accelerator Physics

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The National Synchrotron Light Source is a state‑of‑the‑art, medium‑energy (3‑billion‑electron‑volt, or GeV) electron storage ring that produces x‑rays up to 10,000 times brighter than the NSLS. The mission of the National Synchrotron Light Source is to provide extremely bright x‑rays for basic and applied research in biology and medicine, materials and chemical sciences, geosciences and environmental sciences, and nanoscience. To support this program, the NSLS‑II must design, fabricate, assemble, test, install, and operate unique research equipment to generate, transport, transfer, accelerate and focus electron and X‑ray beams.

This includes a combination of custom designed and built parts and vendor produced components developed by a collaboration of the NSLS‑II scientific, engineering, and technical staff. NSLS‑II supports an international user community of over 2,200 researchers from 400 universities. NSLS‑II performs all these functions in an environmentally responsible and safe manner, under a rigorous conduct of operations approach.

NSLS‑II is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate to participate in our research program focused on using data‑driven chaos indicators for optimization of nonlinear dynamic systems and application in accelerator design and operation. The appointment will be for 3 years.

• Work on a DOE funded Field Work Proposal
• Work with accelerator physics and engineering experts on online optimization of the NSLS‑II accelerator complex
• Working with accelerator physics and engineering experts to create a digital twin for the NSLS‑II accelerator complex
• Work with NSLS‑II upgrade workgroup on the design and optimization of the NSLS‑IU lattice candidates
• Give presentations and report ongoing work
• Present technical papers at conferences and publish in peer‑reviewed journals

• Ph.D. degree in physics or related discipline, with a concentration in accelerator physics and nonlinear dynamics
• Experience in working with particle accelerators through the control systems
• Knowledge of one or more programming language for physics simulations, accelerator commissioning and data analysis, such as Python, Julia
• Ability to perform detailed simulations of the physical processes being studied. This includes the simulation of particle beams and their transport in complex ring lattices using the codes ELEGANT, BMAD, or MAD
• Some fundamental knowledge on machine learning, data science and related numerical tools, such as Scilearn‑kit, Py Torch

• Knowledge of particle accelerators and emerging particle acceleration techniques and technologies
• Experience with Python, Mat Lab or Julia programming language in online machine control
• Knowledge of machine learning, data science and related numerical tools, such as Scilearn‑kit, Py Torch

• May be required to occasionally work off‑hours, nights and/or weekends to support mission critical projects

• Work arrangement:
  On‑site
• Candidates must have received a Ph.D. by the commencement of employment.
• BNL policy requires that after obtaining their PhD, eligible candidates for research associate appointments may not exceed a combined total of 5 years of relevant work experience as a post‑doc and/or in an R&D position, excluding time associated with family planning, military service, illness or other life‑changing events.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is committed to providing fair, equitable and competitive compensation. The full salary range for this position is $71,900.00 - $88,000.00 / year. Salary offers will be commensurate with the final candidate's qualification, education and experience and considered with the internal peer group.

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