PhD in Spatiotemporal Light with Frequency-Gradient Metasurfaces, TU Eindhoven (MSCA SPARK Network)

Job Description

This PhD position in nanophotonics and metasurfaces is at Eindhoven University of Technology. You will design, make and test metasurfaces that shape light in space, time and frequency together. The goal is beam steering and focusing on femtosecond timescales.

At a glance

• Position: PhD candidate, 4 years, full time (MSCA Doctoral Network SPARK)
• Where: Photonics and Semiconductor Nanophysics group, Department of Applied Physics and Science Education, TU/e
• Supervisor: Dr. Ahmed H. Dorrah; co-supervisor Prof. Marco Piccardo, INESC MN, Portugal
• Pay: €3,204 to €4,051 a month gross (scale P), plus 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% year-end bonus
• Secondments: 6 months at INESC MN, Portugal, and 3 months at NKT Photonics, Denmark
• Apply: 10 November 2026

About the frequency-gradient metasurface project

• Develop design methods for 2D and 3D frequency-gradient metasurfaces
• Model and tune their electromagnetic, spectral and dispersive response
• Explore ultrafast beam steering, temporal focusing and self-torque made by harmonic beating
• Make the nanophotonic structures in the TU/e cleanroom
• Build femtosecond optics experiments to measure the light fields you create
• Use the results to improve the designs

SPARK (Spatiotemporal Photonic Technologies) is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network. It will train 15 doctoral candidates in Europe. You will join its training schools, workshops and conferences.

Why this role matters

Today’s optics can shape light very precisely in space, but shaping it in space, time and colour at once is much harder. Solving this could give smaller and faster parts for imaging and optical communication. The project covers theory, cleanroom work and ultrafast lasers, which makes for a broad PhD.

What TU/e is looking for

• A master’s degree in applied physics, physics, optics or photonics, electrical engineering, materials science or a related field
• A strong base in electromagnetics, optics or photonics
• Scientific programming or electromagnetic modelling, for example Python, MATLAB, COMSOL, Lumerical or Tidy3D
• Interest or experience in nanophotonics, metasurfaces, structured light, ultrafast optics, nanofabrication or optical experiments
• Strong written and spoken English
• MSCA rules at the recruitment date: you must not already hold a doctorate, and you must not have lived or had your main activity in the Netherlands for more than 12 months in the previous 36 months

Nice to have

• Femtosecond optics, dispersion engineering or nonlinear optics
• Nanofabrication or structured-light characterisation

Pay and location

Pay follows the Dutch universities’ collective agreement, scale P: €3,204 to €4,051 gross a month, full time. You also get an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus. The job is full time for four years, with an assessment after nine months. At least 10% of your time goes to teaching. TU/e offers support for international staff, including the Dutch expat tax scheme for those who qualify.

How to apply

Apply through the official TU/e page. The closing date is 10 November 2026. Use the “Apply now” button on the ad page and upload the documents it lists. For questions, contact Dr. Ahmed H. Dorrah through the details on the ad.

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