ICFO News

Internships for Undergraduate & Masters Students - Fall 2026

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 23:00:00 +0100

ICFO offers the opportunity to undertake a Final Degree Project / Masters Thesis or to participate in a Research Stay with one of our Research Groups. In this call we offer the following fellowships, which cover funding for up to 12-months.

Up to 6 x Student Research Fellowships
Up to 3 x SPIE@ICFO María Yzuel Fellowship Awards An activity of the SPIE@ICFO Chair for Diversity in Photonic Sciences to attract, retain and promote talented women*.

Candidates will be considered for all fellowships for which they are eligible. Projects may be undertaken with any Research Group. Research lines include, but are not limited to:

Atto-Science, Ultrafast Optics & Nonlinear Optics
Photovoltaics, Thermal Photonics & Solar Fuels
Optical Sensing & Optoelectronics
NanoPhotonics & NanoMechanics
Ultracold Quantum Gases
Quantum and Low-Dimensional Materials
Quantum Communications, Sensing & Simulation
Quantum Optics & Quantum Information
Nanophotonics, Condensed Matter Physics & Light-Matter Interactions
Medical Optics
Biophysics, Biophotonics & Super-Resolution Imaging

Interested students should browse the different research group profiles available on the ICFO website, https://www.icfo.eu/lang/research, to identify the groups that best match their interests. Selected students will participate in ICFO’s rich scientific life, benefit from the experience of ICFO researchers, cutting edge facilities, industrial projects, the institute’s stimulating and interdisciplinary environment, and as receive high-level training as well as extensive admin and tech support. They will collaborate with scientists on research assignments tailored from available projects at ICFO, and will also acquire skills for communicating their research results. In addition, internal Undergraduate and Master student opportunities might become available, for which we may retain candidates applying to this present call. *We welcome cis and trans women

PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative: Junior Process Engineer in PIC Packaging

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 23:00:00 +0100

As part of the PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative, ICFO is currently coordinating the European Chips JU Pilot Line PIXEurope and the Catalan PhotonChip project, both major initiatives aimed at advancing Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) in Europe. These projects strengthen ICFO’s strategic positioning across the entire PIC development pipeline — from design and fabrication to packaging, testing, and real-world applications. Position Overview We are seeking a Junior Process Engineer in PIC Packaging, to support the development of assembly and interconnect technologies for Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs). The selected candidate will play a key role in the experimental development of advanced PIC technologies within the PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative. This is a highly hands-on position in an advanced R&D pilot-line environment, ideally suited for candidates who enjoy working with manufacturing equipment, developing processes, and solving practical engineering challenges. We welcome applications from motivated candidates eager to learn and grow in the field of photonics packaging. Key Responsibilities: The successful candidate will be actively involved in operating and programming assembly equipment, developing manufacturing processes, and troubleshooting technical challenges in an advanced R&D pilot-line environment. Specifically:

Develop and optimize die assembly and interconnection processes for electronic and photonic devices, including die attach, solder reflow, wire bonding, solder bumping and other related packaging processes.
Set up, program, and operate semi-automated equipment for process development and prototyping.
Support the selection and qualification of materials, components, and suppliers to ensure process compatibility and quality.
Optimize packaging processes through experimental evaluation, including thermo-mechanical integrity and reliability testing (e.g., die shear, wire pull, thermal cycling).
Collaborate closely with multidisciplinary teams including optical, mechanical, RF, and test engineers to implement scalable and manufacturable packaging solutions.

This position will report to the Prof. Dr. Valerio Pruneri, Scientific Coordinator of the PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative encompassing the European Chips JU Pilot Line PIXEurope and the Catalan PhotonChip project. Aquest contracte està finançat amb el Fons Europeu de Desenvolupament Regional (FEDER) de la Unió Europea, referència EC10-002141, en el marc del Programa del FEDER de Catalunya 2021‐ 2027.

PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative: Pilot Line Operation Officer

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 22:00:00 +0100

As part of the PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative, ICFO coordinates PIXEurope, a flagship Pilot Line funded under the European Chips JU program focused on Advanced Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) through which ICFO is advancing frontier technologies, including optical interposers for Co-packaged optics for next-generation optoelectronic and photonic devices. To support the coordination and technical execution of this ambitious initiative, ICFO is seeking an Operation Officer with a strong background in PIC or related technologies and experience in R&D&E environments with industrial collaboration. Position Overview: The selected candidate will play a pivotal role in operation of PIXEurope Pilot Line, ensuring the project’s smooth execution and alignment with strategic and technological goals. This position is ideal for a scientist or engineer passionate about translating research into industrial innovation. The candidate will closely work with the Pilot Line Director. Key Responsibilities: The successful candidate will be expected to:

Support the Pilot Line Director in the coordination of PIXEurope’s operations and open-access implementation.
Collaborate with other managers, such as the Pilot Line Open Access Manager, Pilot Line Exploitation and Innovation Manager and Pilot Line Finance and Procurement Manager to establish and strengthen the open access and innovation ecosystem for end-users and stakeholders.
Participate in the technical evaluation of end-user requests to access Pilot Line services, ensuring alignment with the Pilot Line’s capabilities and industrial relevance.
Manage and monitor the timing and progress of end-user services.
Contribute to project reporting and documentation for technical, scientific, and administrative activities, including deliverables to funding authorities.

This position will be dedicated full time to the European Chips JU Pilot Line project PIXEurope directed by Prof. Dr. Valerio Pruneri. PIXEurope is co-funded by the Chips Joint Undertaking and national funding authorities of the Participating States, Spain, Ireland, The Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Austria, France, Italy, United Kingdom. In particular, it is co-funded by Spain through the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service under reference CJU-010000-2025-0005, as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR).

PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative: Junior Research Engineer position in PIC Design and Simulation

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 22:00:00 +0100

As part of the PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative, ICFO coordinates PIXEurope, a flagship Pilot Line funded under the European Chips JU program focused on Advanced Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) through which ICFO is advancing frontier technologies, including optical interposers for Co-packaged optics for next-generation optoelectronic and photonic devices. To strengthen this initiative, ICFO is seeking junior researcher or engineer with experience in the design and numerical simulation of integrated photonic devices and circuits. The candidate should have a solid background in photonics and electromagnetic theory and be motivated to develop practical PIC designs targeting fabrication and experimental validation. Position Overview: We are offering a Junior Research Engineer position in Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) design and simulation to a well-qualified, highly motivated and dynamic young scientist or engineer who wishes to develop their career in integrated photonics in a friendly and stimulating research and technology environment. The successful candidate will join the Optoelectronics research group at ICFO, led by Prof. Dr. Valerio Pruneri, and will contribute to the development of advanced photonic integrated circuits within the group’s research and technology-development activities. The selected candidate will work closely with senior PIC designers, experimental researchers, fabrication partners, and other technical teams. The position is primarily design- and simulation-oriented, providing an opportunity to develop expertise across the complete PIC design workflow, from device modelling and optimization to circuit layout and preparation for fabrication. Key Responsibilities:

Design and simulate integrated photonic devices and circuits,
Perform electromagnetic and optical simulations using numerical methods such as FDTD, FEM, eigenmode expansion, and mode solving.
Optimize photonic-device performance considering insertion loss, coupling efficiency, bandwidth, modal properties, fabrication tolerances, and footprint.
Develop photonic circuits by combining individual building blocks and perform circuit-level simulations where required.
Prepare PIC layouts for fabrication, following design rules and available process-design-kit (PDK) specifications.
Collaborate with fabrication partners and internal teams during design reviews, tape-out preparation, and design-for-manufacturing activities.
Analyse experimental characterization results and compare them with simulations to support device debugging and iterative design improvement.
Develop scripts and simulation workflows for design automation, parameter optimization, and data analysis.
Document design methodologies, simulation results, and device performance in structured technical reports.

This position will report to the Prof. Dr. Valerio Pruneri, Director of the European Chips JU Pilot Line PIXEurope. PIXEurope is co-funded by the Chips Joint Undertaking and national funding authorities of the Participating States, Spain, Ireland, The Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Austria, France, Italy, United Kingdom. In particular, it is co-funded by Spain through the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service under reference CJU-010000-2025-0005, as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR).

Catalonia Quantum Academy’s Project & Communication Manager

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 22:00:00 +0100

As part of Quàntica- Vall de la Ciència i Tecnologies Quàntiques, ICFO coordinates the Catalonia Quantum Academy (CQA) (https://cataloniaquantum.eu.), a program that leads quantum education across Catalonia, helping attract and train the next generation of quantum scientists and engineers. Through a wide-ranging set of initiatives, the CQA strengthens the local quantum ecosystem’s capacity to develop and deploy current and future quantum technologies. Position Overview ICFO is seeking a dynamic, highly motivated and experienced Project and Communication Manager to support the coordination and development of the Catalonia Quantum Academy (CQA) program. The successful candidate will contribute to strengthening the visibility, impact and growth of the CQA within the Catalan and international quantum ecosystem. Key Responsibilities:

Coordinate the planning and delivery of education and training actions, events and community initiatives within the CQA, including managing calls, application processes and participant communications.
Prepare reports and supporting documentation on CQA actions, including liaising with partners to gather relevant information, to ensure execution and reporting are achieved in a timely manner.
Manage the coordination with relevant ICFO stakeholders and CQA partners, serving as the operational point of contact for CQA activities.
Coordinate the preparation of CQA Board meetings, including agendas, minutes and supporting documentation and follow-up on agreed actinons
Develop, maintain and implement the CQA Communication Plan, including the CQA website, social networks and newsletter, in alignment with the CQA strategic priorities.
Coordinate the logistical and administrative aspects of CQA events and activities, working with relevant internal departments at ICFO, with partners, speakers, participants and other stakeholders.

This position will report to the CQA Chair.

Quantum Photonics with Solids and Atoms Group: Post-doctoral position in Development of Cold ...

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 22:00:00 +0100

ICFO is offering a postdoctoral position to a well-qualified, highly motivated and dynamic young scientist who wishes to enhance his/her scientific career in a friendly and stimulating environment. The successful candidate will be joining the Quantum Photonics group led by Prof. Hugues de Riedmatten. The group has experience in quantum technologies for quantum networks, including quantum memories, quantum light sources, quantum frequency conversion and quantum processing nodes. The current position will be within a project aiming at developing quantum network nodes with laser cooled atoms, including quantum memories and highly excited Rydberg atoms enabling deterministic quantum light generation and processing capabilities. The nodes will be tested with photonic integrated lasers and modulators The selected candidate will strongly benefit from a multidisciplinary environment with other postdocs and PhD students working in quantum technologies at ICFO and with strong collaborations with our European academic and industrial partners in the framework of the Q-Planet project. This contract will be supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe (Q-Planet, 101291743), Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) and the Spanish Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service under reference CJU-010200-2026-6, as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR).

PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative: Process Engineer or Research Scientist in PIC Packaging

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 22:00:00 +0100

As part of the PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative, ICFO is currently coordinating the European Chips JU Pilot Line PIXEurope and the Catalan PhotonChip project—two flagship programs aimed at advancing Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) in Europe. As part of our expanding efforts, we are reinforcing our leadership in the full PIC value chain—including design, fabrication, advanced packaging, testing, and application development. We are seeking up to two Process Engineers or Research Scientists with hands-on experience in packaging and assembly of photonic integrated circuits (PICs). The selected candidates will play a key role in the experimental development of advanced PIC technologies within the PICs@ICFO strategic initiative. The position is hands-on and lab-oriented, suited for candidates with a solid technical background and a passion for practical work with integrated photonic devices. Key Responsibilities:

Development and optimization of Photonic Packaging technologies (e.g. die bonding, wire bonding, optical coupling, hybrid integration) on semi-automated assembly machines – including process programming and setup.
Support on suppliers and material selection to ensure quality and process compatibility.
Closely work with cross-functional team (including PIC, optical, mechanical and RF designers) to implement manufacturable and scalable packaging processes.
The candidate will be expected to collaborate closely with design, fabrication, and testing teams to ensure performance consistency across the development cycle.

This position will report to the Prof. Dr. Valerio Pruneri, Scientific Coordinator of the PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative encompassing the European Chips JU Pilot Line PIXEurope and the Catalan PhotonChip project. Aquest contracte està cofinançat amb el Fons Europeu de Desenvolupament Regional (FEDER) de la Unió Europea, en el marc del Programa del FEDER de Catalunya 2021- 2027.

CO2 Mitigation Accelerated by Photons Group: Post-doctoral position in automation of ...

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 22:00:00 +0100

ICFO is offering postdoctoral positions to well-qualified, highly motivated and dynamic young scientists who wish to contribute advance technologies that drive the clean energy transition. The CO2 Mitigation Accelerated by Photons group led by Prof. Dr. Pelayo García de Arquer is seeking exceptional researchers and engineers with a strong scientific and technical background and an excellent proven track record to contribute to the development and automation of advanced electrolysis systems. The successful candidates will work on the automation, operation and optimization of electrochemical systems, including water, CO₂ and nitrate electrolysis, with a particular focus on improving experimental workflows and enabling reliable, high-throughput data generation and analysis. Project PID2025-172289OB-I00 funded by MICIU /AEI /10.13039/501100011033

Ultracold Quantum Gases Group: Post-doctoral position on quantum-gas microscopy of SU(N) ...

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 22:00:00 +0100

ICFO is offering a postdoctoral position to a well-qualified, highly motivated and dynamic young scientist who wishes to enhance his/her scientific career in a friendly and stimulating environment. The successful candidate will be joining the Ultracold Quantum Gases group led by Prof. Dr.Leticia Tarruell . The Fermi-Hubbard model is a cornerstone model of condensed matter physics. It describes the physics of strongly-correlated materials, quantum magnets, and might hold the key of high-temperature superconductivity. Investigating its low-temperature many-body phases is extremely challenging using classical computers and, as a result, many of them remain poorly understood. UItracold atoms trapped in optical lattices provide a pristine realization of the Hubbard model and hold the promise of solving many of its puzzles in a quantum simulation approach. Moreover, they allow one to engineer and investigate even richer variants of the model, which go beyond the realm of existing materials. In our group, we are interested in exploring a particularly intriguing one: the SU(N) Fermi-Hubbard model. It describes fermions of spin N and SU(N)-symmetric interactions, for which intricate magnetic orders and exotic spin liquid phases have been predicted. It can be realized using atoms with two valence electrons, such as ytterbium or strontium. To investigate such SU(N) physics, our group has developed a quantum-gas microscope that allows one to perform single-atom and single-site resolved fluorescence images of strontium Hubbard systems for the first time. Furthermore, we have very recently been able to push our setup to obtain spin-resolved images of fermionic systems with N up to 10. The successful candidate for this position will join a small team of PhD and post-doctoral researchers working to elucidate the mysteries of the SU(N) Fermi-Hubbard model and its low-temperature phases at the microscopic level.

Atomic Quantum Optics Group: Post-doctoral positions in Experimental quantum sensing with ...

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 22:00:00 +0100

ICFO is offering up to three postdoctoral positions to a well-qualified, highly motivated and dynamic young scientists who wish to enhance their scientific career in a friendly and stimulating environment. The successful candidates will be joining the Atomic Quantum Optics group led by Prof. Dr. Morgan Mitchell. Key responsibilities:

Conduct experimental research in: Quantum sensing using atomic vapors, cold and ultra-cold atoms
Build experimental apparatus, design and conduct experiments
Present research findings at group meetings, conferences, and through scientific publications
Support mentoring and supervision of junior researchers and students within the group
Maintain lab equipment and ensure compliance with safety protocols