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Dear MDN readers .....

We would very much appreciate your posting the following opportunities for young
researchers in Chemical and Optical Physics, and please accept our thanks for this posting!

Research positions at the Weizmann Inst of Science, available immediately!

The Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel seeks experimentalist post-docs and graduate students to study laser-based coherent control of chemical reactions.  This work is a collaborative project with Professor Moshe Shapiro in theory and Visiting Professor Mark Keil in experiment.  The project is also conducted in conjunction with the COCOMO collaboration within the EU and Associated countries.

We have developed and implemented non-linear optical techniques for measuring and controlling the relative phases of nanosecond laser pulses in order to control the electronic branching ratio of Na* produced by the two-photon photodissociation of supersonic Na2 beams.  Theoretical aspects are described in "Quantum Control of Chemical Reactions", M.Shapiro and P.Brumer, J.Chem.Soc. Faraday Transactions 93, 1263 (1997).  While early experiments are described in "Experimental Observation of Laser Control:  Electronic Branching in the Photodissociation of Na2", A.Shnitman, I.Sofer, A.Yogev, and M.Shapiro, Phys.Rev.Lett. 76, 2886 (1996), the current experiments utilize coherent control and molecular beams, rather than incoherent control and bulb conditions.  We have completed the construction of the entire optical layout, phase measurement and control, and supersonic beams and fluorescence detection system for the new experiments.

Our experimental work is directly supported by our theoretical work in coherent control, and is being developed for many other systems of chemical, semiconductor, and practical interest.  The experimental work has also generated novel triplet state spectroscopy and nano-metrology spin-off techniques.

The Weizmann Institute is a premier research institute in Rehovot, Israel.  In addition to graduate students and large faculties in Chemistry, Physics, Life Sciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science, the Institute hosts several hundred overseas researchers and is a centre of rich diversity and scientific collaboration.  The campus and town are safe and pleasant environments.

Experience with any of the following will be very helpful:  pulsed lasers, non-linear mixing techniques, interferometry, spectroscopy, molecular beams, vacuum systems.  The post-doctoral positions are available immediately for one year, and are renewable for a second year.  The student position is available to begin in the Fall 2002.

Please e-mail, write, or call with c.v. and names of two or three references to:

Mark Keil
Visiting Professor
Weizmann Institute of Science
Rehovot, Israel 76100
tel:       + 972-8-934-2012
fax:      + 972-8-934-4123
home:  + 972-9-774-7165
mobile: + 972-67-40-7621
e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
web:     http://www.weizmann.ac.il/chemphys/Shapiro_group/