Postdoc: Inverse design of broadband multi-parameter nanophotonic sensors

Work Activities
The Photonic Forces group at AMOLF is looking for a motivated and talented postdoctoral researcher to join an ambitious interdisciplinary project on next-generation optical sensing technologies. In this project, you will develop novel theoretical and numerical methods for the inverse design of nanophotonic structures enabling broadband, multiparameter sensing in fiber-based systems.

The project is a collaboration between AMOLF, TU Eindhoven, and industrial partners, aiming to establish a new paradigm for nanophotonic fiber sensing. Modern industry increasingly relies on real-time monitoring of various quantities, such as pressure, temperature, and acceleration. While optical sensors have great advantages, they are challenged by high cost and the difficulty to distinguish various physical quantities. We address these challenges by developing broadband nanophotonic sensors that disentangle multiple physical parameters from complex optical spectra. This approach raises fundamental questions on how information about parameters is optimally encoded and retrieved from light. In particular, it requires understanding how multimode photonic systems respond to mechanical and thermal perturbations, what sets the ultimate precision limits of such measurements, and how nanophotonic structures can be designed to approach these limits.

As a postdoc, you will develop theoretical models and inverse design strategies for optomechanical nanophotonic transducers. You will investigate how to engineer their spectral response for multiparameter sensing, guided by fundamental bounds on estimation precision, and implement advanced computational design methods to realize optimal structures. Your work will directly connect fundamental concepts in nanophotonics and measurement theory to the development of new sensing technologies, in close collaboration with experimental researchers and industrial partners.

Our group offers an open and collaborative environment in which we focus on hands-on learning and personal growth of all group members. We are looking for excited and talented candidates, who are eager to develop new skills and engage new challenges in close collaboration with colleagues.

Please send your application at the latest by May 28, 2026.

Qualifications
We seek an excellent candidate with a background in physics or engineering, with relevant experience in nanophotonic theory and/or novel automated design approaches. You need to have a doctoral degree, or have met all the requirements and will receive the doctoral degree shortly. The successful candidate has a collaborative spirit, and will liaise with collaborators. We strongly believe in the benefits of an inclusive and diverse workplace, and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.

Work environment
The Photonic Forces team led by prof. Ewold Verhagen studies light-matter interactions at the nanoscale, in devices ranging from photonic crystals and metamaterials to high-quality optical resonators. We investigate the fundamental physics associated with such interactions, which are enhanced through optical field confinement in tailored nanophotonic systems, as well as the applications they allow. In particular, we study new ways to measure and control both light and motion down to the fundamental limits governed by physical laws and symmetries. Theory and experiment go hand in hand in many projects in the group. Within the group as well as among the different groups at AMOLF, we have a strong focus on stimulating development of junior researchers in all professional aspects, as well as collaborations with other researchers at AMOLF and beyond. We strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where passion and enjoyment of science can shine. For more information, see www.optomechanics.nl.

AMOLF is a part of NWO-I and initiate and performs leading fundamental research on the physics of complex forms of matter, and to create new functional materials, in partnership with academia and industry. The institute is located at Amsterdam Science Park and currently employs about 140 researchers and 80 support employees. www.amolf.nl

Working conditions

• The working atmosphere at AMOLF is largely determined by young, enthusiastic, mostly foreign employees. Communication is informal and runs through short lines of communication.
• The position is intended as full-time (40 hours / week, 12 months / year) appointment in the service of the Netherlands Foundation of Scientific Research Institutes (NWO-I) for the duration of 1.5 years
• Salary is in scale 10 (CAO-OI) which starts at 4.552 Euro’s gross per month, and a range of employment benefits.
• AMOLF assists any new foreign Postdoc with housing and visa applications and compensates their transport costs and furnishing expenses.

More information?
For further information about the position, please contact Ewold Verhagen: verhagen@amolf.nl.

Application
You can respond to this vacancy online via the button below, at the latest by May 28, 2026.

Online screening may be part of the selection.

Diversity code
AMOLF is highly committed to an inclusive and diverse work environment: we want to develop talent and creativity by bringing together people from different backgrounds and cultures. We recruit and select on the basis of competencies and talents. We strongly encourage anyone with the right qualifications to apply for the vacancy, regardless of age, gender, origin, sexual orientation or physical ability.

AMOLF has won the NNV Diversity Award 2022, which is awarded every two years by the Netherlands Physical Society for demonstrating the most successful implementation of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

Commercial activities in response to this ad are not appreciated.

Postdoc: Inverse design of broadband multi-parameter nanophotonic sensors

Work Activities
The Photonic Forces group at AMOLF is looking for a motivated and talented postdoctoral researcher to join an ambitious interdisciplinary project on next-generation optical sensing technologies. In this project, you will develop novel theoretical and numerical methods for the inverse design of nanophotonic structures enabling broadband, multiparameter sensing in fiber-based systems.

The project is a collaboration between AMOLF, TU Eindhoven, and industrial partners, aiming to establish a new paradigm for nanophotonic fiber sensing. Modern industry increasingly relies on real-time monitoring of various quantities, such as pressure, temperature, and acceleration. While optical sensors have great advantages, they are challenged by high cost and the difficulty to distinguish various physical quantities. We address these challenges by developing broadband nanophotonic sensors that disentangle multiple physical parameters from complex optical spectra. This approach raises fundamental questions on how information about parameters is optimally encoded and retrieved from light. In particular, it requires understanding how multimode photonic systems respond to mechanical and thermal perturbations, what sets the ultimate precision limits of such measurements, and how nanophotonic structures can be designed to approach these limits.

As a postdoc, you will develop theoretical models and inverse design strategies for optomechanical nanophotonic transducers. You will investigate how to engineer their spectral response for multiparameter sensing, guided by fundamental bounds on estimation precision, and implement advanced computational design methods to realize optimal structures. Your work will directly connect fundamental concepts in nanophotonics and measurement theory to the development of new sensing technologies, in close collaboration with experimental researchers and industrial partners.

Our group offers an open and collaborative environment in which we focus on hands-on learning and personal growth of all group members. We are looking for excited and talented candidates, who are eager to develop new skills and engage new challenges in close collaboration with colleagues.

Please send your application at the latest by May 28, 2026.

Qualifications
We seek an excellent candidate with a background in physics or engineering, with relevant experience in nanophotonic theory and/or novel automated design approaches. You need to have a doctoral degree, or have met all the requirements and will receive the doctoral degree shortly. The successful candidate has a collaborative spirit, and will liaise with collaborators. We strongly believe in the benefits of an inclusive and diverse workplace, and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.

Work environment
The Photonic Forces team led by prof. Ewold Verhagen studies light-matter interactions at the nanoscale, in devices ranging from photonic crystals and metamaterials to high-quality optical resonators. We investigate the fundamental physics associated with such interactions, which are enhanced through optical field confinement in tailored nanophotonic systems, as well as the applications they allow. In particular, we study new ways to measure and control both light and motion down to the fundamental limits governed by physical laws and symmetries. Theory and experiment go hand in hand in many projects in the group. Within the group as well as among the different groups at AMOLF, we have a strong focus on stimulating development of junior researchers in all professional aspects, as well as collaborations with other researchers at AMOLF and beyond. We strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where passion and enjoyment of science can shine. For more information, see www.optomechanics.nl.

AMOLF is a part of NWO-I and initiate and performs leading fundamental research on the physics of complex forms of matter, and to create new functional materials, in partnership with academia and industry. The institute is located at Amsterdam Science Park and currently employs about 140 researchers and 80 support employees. www.amolf.nl

Working conditions

• The working atmosphere at AMOLF is largely determined by young, enthusiastic, mostly foreign employees. Communication is informal and runs through short lines of communication.
• The position is intended as full-time (40 hours / week, 12 months / year) appointment in the service of the Netherlands Foundation of Scientific Research Institutes (NWO-I) for the duration of 1.5 years
• Salary is in scale 10 (CAO-OI) which starts at 4.552 Euro’s gross per month, and a range of employment benefits.
• AMOLF assists any new foreign Postdoc with housing and visa applications and compensates their transport costs and furnishing expenses.

More information?
For further information about the position, please contact Ewold Verhagen: verhagen@amolf.nl.

Application
You can respond to this vacancy online via the button below, at the latest by May 28, 2026.

Online screening may be part of the selection.

Diversity code
AMOLF is highly committed to an inclusive and diverse work environment: we want to develop talent and creativity by bringing together people from different backgrounds and cultures. We recruit and select on the basis of competencies and talents. We strongly encourage anyone with the right qualifications to apply for the vacancy, regardless of age, gender, origin, sexual orientation or physical ability.

AMOLF has won the NNV Diversity Award 2022, which is awarded every two years by the Netherlands Physical Society for demonstrating the most successful implementation of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

Commercial activities in response to this ad are not appreciated.

Postdoctoral Researcher: How do physical learning systems learn?

Work Activities
We are seeking an excellent and motivated postdoctoral researcher to join our team at AMOLF, working on fundamental questions on physical self-learning systems as part of the NWO ENW‑M1 project “How do physical learning systems learn?”. The research position is intended to start in September 2026.

Physical learning is an emerging paradigm in which materials adapt their behavior through local physical rules, without digital computation. Despite rapid experimental progress, it remains poorly understood how such systems learn and what signatures learning leaves in their physical structure and energy landscape. This project aims to build the theoretical foundations of physical learning, uncovering the modes of learning available to linear and nonlinear systems, their expressiveness and capacity, and the physical imprints of learned tasks.

The postdoctoral researcher will contribute to developing this theoretical framework, with a strong focus on analytical modeling, computational methods, and the interpretation of learning signals embedded in physical structures. Recent advances in our group, including new methods for detecting learning signals in linear networks that reveal aspects of the tasks they have learned, provide a powerful conceptual starting point.

The scope of possible topics includes:

• Developing theoretical tools to characterize learning modes in linear and nonlinear physical networks.
• Understanding how learning reshapes physical energy landscapes.
• Identifying physical signatures of learned tasks.
• Exploring expressiveness, capacity, and continual learning in physical systems.

This position is theoretical and computational in nature, with opportunities for collaboration with experimental groups working on physical learning in electronics, mechanics, and living flow networks (Physarum Polycephalum).

For more information about our work, see:

[1] Stern, Hexner, Rocks and Liu, Supervised learning in physical networks: From machine learning to learning machines, PRX 11, 021045 (2021)

[2] Stern and Murugan, Learning without neurons in physical systems, Ann Rev Cond Matt Phys 14, 417 (2023)

[3] Stern, Liu and Balasubramanian, Physical effects of learning, PRE 109, 024311 (2024).

[4] Stern, Guzman, Martins, Liu and Balasubramanian, Physical networks become what they learn, PRL 134, 147402 (2025).

Qualifications
We seek candidates with:

• A PhD in physics, applied mathematics, materials science, mechanical engineering, computer science, or a related field.
• Strong interest in learning, adaptation, and dynamical systems in physical contexts
• Experience with analytical and\or computational modeling.
• Proficiency in numerical methods and coding (Python, JAX, MATLAB, or related tools).
• Good communication skills in English.
• Experience with complex systems, energy landscapes, physical memory, machine learning, or soft/active matter is advantageous but not required.
• We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and strongly encourage curiosity-driven thinkers.

Work environment
AMOLF is a part of NWO-I and initiate and performs leading fundamental research on the physics of complex forms of matter, and to create new functional materials, in partnership with academia and industry. The institute is located at Amsterdam Science Park and currently employs about 140 researchers and 80 support employees. www.amolf.nl

The Learning Machines group at AMOLF, led by Menachem (Nachi) Stern, focuses on the development of fundamental understanding and theories regarding learning, from a physical perspective, under real world constraints.

Our group members work closely together with extensive support from AMOLF resources in all aspects of design, realization, and interpretation of computational models of physical learning systems. We have a strong focus on stimulating development of personnel in all professional aspects, as well as collaborations with other researchers at our institutes and beyond. Moreover, we work closely together with international groups and companies.

Working conditions

• The working atmosphere at the institute is largely determined by young, enthusiastic, mostly foreign employees. Communication is informal and runs through short lines of communication.
• The position is intended as full-time (40 hours / week, 12 months / year) appointment in the service of the Netherlands Foundation of Scientific Research Institutes (NWO-I) for the duration of four years
• Salary is in scale 10 (CAO-OI) which starts at 4.552 Euro’s gross per month, and a range of employment benefits.
• AMOLF assists any new foreign Postdoc with housing and visa applications and compensates their transport costs and furnishing expenses.

More information?
For further information about the position, please contact

Dr. Menachem Stern
E-mail: stern@amolf.nl

Application
You can respond to this vacancy online via the button below.

Online screening may be part of the selection.

Diversity code
AMOLF is highly committed to an inclusive and diverse work environment: we want to develop talent and creativity by bringing together people from different backgrounds and cultures. We recruit and select on the basis of competencies and talents. We strongly encourage anyone with the right qualifications to apply for the vacancy, regardless of age, gender, origin, sexual orientation or physical ability.

AMOLF has won the NNV Diversity Award 2022, which is awarded every two years by the Netherlands Physical Society for demonstrating the most successful implementation of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

Commercial activities in response to this ad are not appreciated.

Postdoctoral Researcher: How do physical learning systems learn?

Work Activities
We are seeking an excellent and motivated postdoctoral researcher to join our team at AMOLF, working on fundamental questions on physical self-learning systems as part of the NWO ENW‑M1 project “How do physical learning systems learn?”. The research position is intended to start in September 2026.

Physical learning is an emerging paradigm in which materials adapt their behavior through local physical rules, without digital computation. Despite rapid experimental progress, it remains poorly understood how such systems learn and what signatures learning leaves in their physical structure and energy landscape. This project aims to build the theoretical foundations of physical learning, uncovering the modes of learning available to linear and nonlinear systems, their expressiveness and capacity, and the physical imprints of learned tasks.

The postdoctoral researcher will contribute to developing this theoretical framework, with a strong focus on analytical modeling, computational methods, and the interpretation of learning signals embedded in physical structures. Recent advances in our group, including new methods for detecting learning signals in linear networks that reveal aspects of the tasks they have learned, provide a powerful conceptual starting point.

The scope of possible topics includes:

• Developing theoretical tools to characterize learning modes in linear and nonlinear physical networks.
• Understanding how learning reshapes physical energy landscapes.
• Identifying physical signatures of learned tasks.
• Exploring expressiveness, capacity, and continual learning in physical systems.

This position is theoretical and computational in nature, with opportunities for collaboration with experimental groups working on physical learning in electronics, mechanics, and living flow networks (Physarum Polycephalum).

For more information about our work, see:

[1] Stern, Hexner, Rocks and Liu, Supervised learning in physical networks: From machine learning to learning machines, PRX 11, 021045 (2021)

[2] Stern and Murugan, Learning without neurons in physical systems, Ann Rev Cond Matt Phys 14, 417 (2023)

[3] Stern, Liu and Balasubramanian, Physical effects of learning, PRE 109, 024311 (2024).

[4] Stern, Guzman, Martins, Liu and Balasubramanian, Physical networks become what they learn, PRL 134, 147402 (2025).

Qualifications
We seek candidates with:

• A PhD in physics, applied mathematics, materials science, mechanical engineering, computer science, or a related field.
• Strong interest in learning, adaptation, and dynamical systems in physical contexts
• Experience with analytical and\or computational modeling.
• Proficiency in numerical methods and coding (Python, JAX, MATLAB, or related tools).
• Good communication skills in English.
• Experience with complex systems, energy landscapes, physical memory, machine learning, or soft/active matter is advantageous but not required.
• We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and strongly encourage curiosity-driven thinkers.

Work environment
AMOLF is a part of NWO-I and initiate and performs leading fundamental research on the physics of complex forms of matter, and to create new functional materials, in partnership with academia and industry. The institute is located at Amsterdam Science Park and currently employs about 140 researchers and 80 support employees. www.amolf.nl

The Learning Machines group at AMOLF, led by Menachem (Nachi) Stern, focuses on the development of fundamental understanding and theories regarding learning, from a physical perspective, under real world constraints.

Our group members work closely together with extensive support from AMOLF resources in all aspects of design, realization, and interpretation of computational models of physical learning systems. We have a strong focus on stimulating development of personnel in all professional aspects, as well as collaborations with other researchers at our institutes and beyond. Moreover, we work closely together with international groups and companies.

Working conditions

• The working atmosphere at the institute is largely determined by young, enthusiastic, mostly foreign employees. Communication is informal and runs through short lines of communication.
• The position is intended as full-time (40 hours / week, 12 months / year) appointment in the service of the Netherlands Foundation of Scientific Research Institutes (NWO-I) for the duration of four years
• Salary is in scale 10 (CAO-OI) which starts at 4.552 Euro’s gross per month, and a range of employment benefits.
• AMOLF assists any new foreign Postdoc with housing and visa applications and compensates their transport costs and furnishing expenses.

More information?
For further information about the position, please contact

Dr. Menachem Stern
E-mail: stern@amolf.nl

Application
You can respond to this vacancy online via the button below.

Online screening may be part of the selection.

Diversity code
AMOLF is highly committed to an inclusive and diverse work environment: we want to develop talent and creativity by bringing together people from different backgrounds and cultures. We recruit and select on the basis of competencies and talents. We strongly encourage anyone with the right qualifications to apply for the vacancy, regardless of age, gender, origin, sexual orientation or physical ability.

AMOLF has won the NNV Diversity Award 2022, which is awarded every two years by the Netherlands Physical Society for demonstrating the most successful implementation of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

Commercial activities in response to this ad are not appreciated.

Thesis project (BSc/MSc): How does nature break symmetry?

Work Activities
Many molecules and crystals exist in two mirror-image forms (left- and right-handed). Yet in nature, and especially in living systems, often one handedness dominates. How can a system in which left and right are energetically equivalent still end up choosing a side?

Fig.1: Chiral asymmetry in nature at various scales. Source: Zang, G (2023)

In this thesis project you will study the crystallization of chiral crystals and the emergence and amplification of chirality. The work is inherently interdisciplinary: chemistry (solution conditions, additives, kinetics) meets physics (transport, non-equilibrium growth, instabilities, pattern formation) in the context of biology (the origin of life, bio-inspired processes). Because we explore multiple connected questions, you can co-design the thesis direction based on your interests, ranging from hands-on experiments to modeling and quantitative data analysis.

You will learn

• Crystallization experiments and experimental design
• Optical microscopy and time-lapse imaging
• Quantitative analysis and scientific interpretation
• Working across the interface of physics and chemistry

Reference:

Zhang, G., Cheng, X., Wang, Y., & Zhang, W. (2023). Supramolecular chiral polymeric aggregates: Construction and applications. Aggregate, 4(1), e262.

Qualifications
BSc/MSc students in Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science or an interdisciplinary track such as Bèta-Gamma. Curiosity and motivation matter more than specific prior techniques.

Work environment
The internship will be conducted in the Self-Organizing Matter group, headed by Prof. dr. Wim Noorduin. Our group focuses on the dynamic interplay between chemical reactions and crystallization phenomena to control the emergence of complexity in the solid state. His group is known for designing physical/chemical schemes to self-organize complex materials and develop new chiral amplification methods for the synthesis of enantiomerically pure building blocks. Current research includes the development of new routes to control crystallization, material composition, shape and hierarchical organization of mineralized structures and the design of physical/chemical feedback mechanisms to self-correct and amplify the emergence of complexity.

AMOLF is a part of NWO-I and initiate and performs leading fundamental research on the physics of complex forms of matter, and to create new functional materials, in partnership with academia and industry. The institute is located at Amsterdam Science Park and currently employs about 140 researchers and 80 support employees. www.amolf.nl

Working conditions
At the start of the traineeship your trainee plan will be set out, in consultation with your AMOLF supervisor.

Supervision by: Tess Heeremans (PhD candidate, Self-Organizing Matter group, AMOLF): I care strongly about the joy of doing science and aim to provide both freedom to follow your curiosity and structured support to build solid scientific skills.

Location: Experiments will mainly be performed at AMOLF (Science Park, Amsterdam) in the Self-Organizing Matter group of Prof.dr. Wim Noorduin. Depending on the thesis angle, collaboration with other groups at AMOLF and the Institute of Physics and HIMS at the UvA is possible/encouraged.

More information?
For further information about the position, please contact Tess Heeremans: t.heeremans@amolf.nl

Link to group website: Wim Noorduin - AMOLF

Application
You can respond to this vacancy online via the button below. Please annex your:

• Resume
• List of followed courses
• Motivation Letter

Online screening may be part of the selection.

Diversity code
AMOLF is highly committed to an inclusive and diverse work environment: we want to develop talent and creativity by bringing together people from different backgrounds and cultures. We recruit and select on the basis of competencies and talents. We strongly encourage anyone with the right qualifications to apply for the vacancy, regardless of age, gender, origin, sexual orientation or physical ability.

AMOLF has won the NNV Diversity Award 2022, which is awarded every two years by the Netherlands Physical Society for demonstrating the most successful implementation of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

Commercial activities in response to this ad are not appreciated.