Muon Instrument Scientist

Muon Instrument Scientist (Radio-Frequency Resonance Techniques for Muons)

Science and Technology Facilities Council
Salary £39,375 - £43,313  (Band D) or £48,802 - £53,682 (Band E) per annum depending on experience and skills (overtime and on call allowances are available for this role).
Hours: Full time
Contract Type: Open Ended (Permanent).
Location: Science and Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Harwell, Oxfordshire

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Background

The ISIS Neutron & Muon Source is a world-leading centre for research in the physical and life sciences at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Our suite of neutron and muon instruments gives unique insights into the properties of materials at the atomic scale. We support a national and international community of more than 3000 scientists for research into subjects ranging from clean energy and the environment, pharmaceuticals and health care, through to nanotechnology and materials engineering, catalysis and polymers and on to fundamental studies of materials.

The ISIS Muon Group operates six muon spectrometers for condensed matter and molecular studies using both positive and negative muons. These spectrometers are used by researchers from around the world for a wide range of studies that include investigations in the areas of magnetism, superconductivity, charge transport, molecular and chemical studies, modelling hydrogen behaviour in, for example, semiconductors or proton conductors, and elemental analysis. The instrumentation operated by this group is currently undergoing an exciting period of development, with plans for new and state-of-the-art instruments. The group is also developing novel calculation methods, such as density functional theory (DFT) techniques, to help with the understanding of experiment results. Further details can be found at http://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/groups/muons.

There is now an opportunity for a scientist (possibly new to the muon technique) to join the muon group leading the development of Radio-Frequency (RF) techniques and associated instrumentation for novel muon spin resonance experiments, exploiting concepts from NMR/EPR. As a pulsed muon facility, ISIS is particularly suited to experiments where external stimuli are synchronised to the beam, and therefore provides an ideal platform for developing new scientific applications of RF resonance methods.

Key Responsibilities

As a member of the muon group, you will work with colleagues to develop both scientific and technical aspects of the muon technique, with an emphasis on exploiting magnetic resonance methods. You will collaborate with research groups coming to ISIS from the UK and overseas, providing technical and scientific guidance – you will need to be able to explain experimental details to researchers with much less experience of muon methods. You will also work closely with in-house technical and support groups as experiments are carried out.

You will also be expected to develop your own research programme which, at least in part, will make use of the muon method, and you will be expected to publicise your work by publishing in peer-reviewed journals and at international conferences. You will be encouraged to look for opportunities to collaborate with ISIS staff working on neutron methods, and to develop wider collaborations with research groups outside of ISIS. Whilst experimental support by muon group instrument scientists is carried out across all muon spectrometers, you will be given specific responsibilities for one of the facility instruments.

Within the group you will have a particular focus on developing novel RF muon spin resonance methods to implement new types of muon measurement. Applications of this are likely to be stimulated through collaborative work with external user groups and by the requirements of your own research programme. You will also be expected to take a lead in developing novel instrumentation, whether in support of your own work on RF methods or as part of collaborative work to enable other muon measurement techniques, and perhaps new computational tools to support data analysis.

Further information 

While experience of the muon technique is desirable, applications from candidates with experience of other spectroscopic techniques would be welcomed.

There are occasions where you will be asked to work outside of normal hours when experiments require this, able to work in classified radiation areas at times and willingness to travel overseas. Additionally as part of your role, you will frequently use computers for experimental control and will need to use python scripting for sequencing measurements. 

Person Specification

The following criteria will be assessed at Shortlisting (S), at Interview (I) or both (S&I):

Qualifications

PhD, or about to receive a PhD, in a relevant science area, or equivalent experience (S) (for Band E relevant post-doctoral work is required).

Knowledge and Experience

• Scientific research experience, including publication record reflecting a relevant science programme pursued through both personal and collaborative work, likely gained and arising from PhD work (Band D) or through post-doctoral work (Band E) (S)
• A strong interest in taking forward a relevant scientific research programme. This will include the use of muon spectroscopy to solve problems in your area of research. However, we also encourage the use of complimentary techniques as part of your work (S&I).
• An interest or experience of working with radio-frequency techniques either in muon spin relaxation/rotation or in another area of magnetic resonance (for Band E a track record) (S&I)
• A strong interest in scientific instrumentation, with potential (Band D) or demonstrated ability (Band E) for developing novel instrumentation likely gained through the development of radio-frequency experiments (S&I)
• Awareness of health and safety issues relevant to the post. (I)
  
  Personal skills and Qualities
  
• Ability to work as part of a team, with good interpersonal skills to communicate with other scientists and technical staff and explain concepts to those less familiar (S&I).
• Ability to take the initiative and to work effectively with limited supervision at times (S&I)

In recruiting this role, our primary focus is looking for a candidate who can demonstrate a strong interest in developing and promoting RF techniques for muons, and has clear ideas for developing a relevant scientific research programme.  We will be less influenced by the career stage of the candidate..

For any questions on this role please contact adrian.hillier@stfc.ac.uk.

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