Fermilab is America’s premier laboratory for particle physics and accelerator research, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. We support discovery science experiments in Illinois and at locations around the world, including deep underground mines in South Dakota and Canada, mountaintops in Arizona and Chile, and the South Pole. 

We are strategic risk takers, innovators, and collaborators. We are engineers, scientists, technicians, administrative professionals. We are 1,800 employees advancing knowledge for the benefit of humankind. Fermilab has been at the forefront of particle physics for more than 40 years. We build world-leading accelerators and detectors to conduct some of the most advanced particle physics experiments possible. We collect and analyze the data from those experiments with some of the most powerful computers in the world. We conduct this research on a 6,800-acre prairie, 35 miles outside Chicago, a treasure that has been designated a National Environmental Research Park. 

The Fermilab Accelerator Directorate Target Systems Department seeks a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate candidate to join the High-Power Targetry Research and Development group. The successful candidate will develop novel materials that are tolerant to radiation damage and thermal shock effects for future high-power particle-beam targets. This will involve designing and executing in-beam experiments followed by materials characterization to study the microstructural evolution of irradiated materials. Conventional electron and transmission electron microscopy will be used to probe and quantify radiation-induced defects such as dislocation loops, point defect clusters and void swelling. In addition, changes in bulk thermomechanical properties due to radiation damage will be measured. Emphasis will be placed on developing High-Entropy Alloys (HEAs) and Electrospun Nanofiber materials, specifically for accelerator target applications. The successful candidate will also have the opportunity to participate in the operation and research of Fermilab beam experiments. The work scope supports a DOE early career research program project where the successful candidate will actively participate in research collaborations with national and international universities and laboratories. 

The Target Systems Department is an integrated department, consisting of physicists, engineers, and technicians; value differences that embody principles of diversity and inclusion. You will join a group of people dedicated to their work and actively involved in new areas of research. 

This position is for an appointment of 3 years with the potential of extension.