ICFO News

Post-doctoral researcher in synthetic light-gated actuators for neuronal optogenetics

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 22:00:00 +0100

We are seeking a highly motivated researcher to develop next-generation neuronal actuators based on light-gated ion channels. The ideal candidate will have experience in protein engineering, preferably involving membrane proteins and channelrhodopsins. The project will combine in silico mutagenesis with structure-guided design to identify key residues that enhance light sensitivity and photocurrent amplitude, inspired by naturally occurring photoreceptors in photosynthetic organisms. Engineered variants will be functionally characterized using in vitro reconstitution and automated patch-clamp electrophysiology. The goal of this position is to engineer novel light-gated actuator with unprecedented photon-sensitivity for use in non-invasive, translational neurotherapies. The position offers strong opportunities for scientific leadership and career development. The position is placed at the interface between the Prof. Dr. Michael Krieg and Prof. Dr. Nicoletta Liguori labs at ICFO and the candidate will collaborate with the two teams and thus benefit from a cutting-edge interdisciplinary environment. The candidate will be mentored by the PI and collaborators with the goal of developing the skills required to become an independent researcher. Key Responsibilities The successful candidate will lead a team of bioengineers, protein biochemists, and ultrafast spectroscopists to develop, deploy, and elucidate the mechanisms of novel light-gated ion channels. Working closely with team members and collaborators specializing in rational protein engineering, protein reconstitution, ultrafast spectroscopy, and C. elegans neurobiology, the candidate will:

Engineer new channelrhodopsin variants incorporating secondary light-absorbing groups.
Design and execute in vitro reconstitution experiments with purified proteins and targeted mutants.
Perform electrophysiological measurements using automated patch-clamp systems to characterize photocurrents of engineered channels in heterologous expression systems.
Collaborate with cell biologists and electrophysiologists to translate in vitro findings to heterologous cells and C. elegans neurons.

The candidate is expected to communicate results in group meetings, conferences, and peer-reviewed publications, and to provide regular updates to the PI and collaborating partners. A proven track record of effective teamwork is essential.

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

Sat, 30 May 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.

PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative: Principal Engineer position in Optoelectronic Packaging

Sat, 30 May 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 an experienced scientist or engineer with a strong background in PIC packaging and testing, particularly in industry-driven environments. The selected candidate will play a key role in shaping ICFO’s strategy in this domain, contributing to leading-edge R&D and fostering technology transfer. Key Responsibilities: The successful candidate will be expected to:

Provide hands-on technical expertise in packaging and testing of PICs, ensuring high-quality deliverables aligned with industrial standards
Train, supervise, and coordinate the work of technicians and junior engineers within the group.
Lead the procurement, installation, and operational management of specialized equipment and infrastructure.
Drive application-specific R&D&E projects, particularly those developed in close collaboration with industrial partners and end-users

STM on 2D Quantum Materials Group: Post-doctoral position THz Quantum Twisting Microscope

Sun, 24 May 2026 22:00:00 +0100

Design and fabrication of devices and tips
Measurements in RT and LT QTM
Data analysis
Supervision of PhD and internship student(s)

PICs@ICFO Strategic Initiative: Engineer or Research Scientist in Nanofabrication for ...

Sun, 24 May 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. With €400 million in investments and a consortium of 20 partners across 11 countries, the project aims to reinforce Europe’s strategic autonomy in photonic technologies and accelerate industrial uptake of cutting-edge integrated photonics. Over the next decade, PIXEurope will enable the transfer of advanced technologies to manufacturing environments, while fostering innovation and scalability across the European photonics ecosystem. To strengthen this initiative, ICFO is seeking a highly motivated Engineer or Research Scientist with strong expertise in nanofabrication of photonic devices. Position Overview: We offer a staff research engineer position to a scientist or engineer with hands-on experience in nanofabrication processes for photonic devices. The ideal candidate will have experience working with platforms such as Silicon, Silicon Nitride, and/or Lithium Niobate. The successful candidate will contribute to the development, optimization, and scaling of fabrication processes for integrated photonics. Key Responsibilities: The selected candidate will be expected to:

Develop and optimize nanofabrication processes for photonic devices based on techniques like EBL and fs-laser writing
Prepare and manage masks for etching processes and ensure process reproducibility
Perform and optimize dry and/or wet etching processes for nanophotonic structures
Develop and optimize laser-based etching processes for glass micro-structuring
Carry out metal deposition using e-beam evaporation and sputtering techniques for lift-off fabrication processes.
Work within a cleanroom environment, ensuring best practices and compliance with fabrication protocols
Characterize fabricated devices using techniques such as SEM, AFM and other metrology tools
Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams on device development, fabrication workflows, and process integration
Contribute to research and development projects in integrated photonics, including interaction with academic and industrial partners

This position will report to Prof. Dr. Valerio Pruneri, Director of the European Chips JU Pilot Line PIXEurope and Dr. Joel Moser, the Head of Nanofabrication Lab where the related activities will be hosted. This contract has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe under the Grant Agreement # 101213727, Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) and the Spanish Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service, and is supported by funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR).

ICFO Coordinator – Research Group Support & Operations (RGO Coordination)

Sun, 24 May 2026 22:00:00 +0100

Context of the Position The Finance, Compliance & Labor Affairs Area (FCLA) at ICFO oversees key institutional functions, including Finance, Legal, Procurement, Labor Affairs, and Project Financial Control. As part of its strategic development, ICFO is reinforcing its Coordination function, with the objective of:

Structuring processes across teams
Improving consistency in institutional operations
Supporting transversal initiatives linked to research activity

Within this framework, ICFO is deploying the Research Group Officer (RGO) model, designed to provide a structured and professional interface between Research Groups and Operational Teams. The RGO model aims to:

Improve clarity and completeness of administrative interactions
Ensure consistency in the way research support is delivered
Reduce inefficiencies and fragmentation across teams
Enable more predictable and scalable support to research activity

To support the implementation and consolidation of this model, ICFO is seeking a Coordinator of Research Group Officers, integrated within the Coordination function. Job Description The Coordinator of Research Group Officers will contribute to the deployment, coordination and consolidation of the RGO function across the institute. The role is positioned at the intersection between research activity and institutional processes, with a focus on ensuring that interactions between Research Groups and Operational Teams are structured, coherent and aligned with institutional standards. The position combines:

Coordination of a transversal function
Structuring and standardization of processes
Follow-up and organization of activities
Contribution to institutional scaling and operational clarity

The position is conceived within a phase of institutional development, contributing to the structuring and consolidation of coordination mechanisms that will evolve in alignment with ICFO’s digital transformation and process optimization initiatives. The role requires the ability to operate with autonomy, influence, and a strong understanding of institutional dynamics. Key Responsibilities

Support the coordination of the RGO function, ensuring consistency in approach, quality of support, and alignment across research groups
Contribute to the organization and prioritization of RGO activities, supporting structured follow-up and visibility of workload
Structure and consolidate the interface between Research Groups and Operational Teams, ensuring that administrative interactions are consistent, complete and clearly defined
Identify inefficiencies or gaps in cross-team interactions and contribute to the design and implementation of improvements
Participate in the definition, documentation and standardization of administrative workflows related to research activity
Identify recurring patterns, inefficiencies and process gaps, contributing to their transformation into structured workflows or system-based solutions
Support the rollout and progressive deployment of the RGO model, including onboarding, training and clarification of roles and responsibilities
Contribute to the design, implementation and progressive consolidation of structured processes and digital tools, supporting traceability, scalability and coordination
Collaborate with Operational Teams to ensure alignment with institutional processes
Actively contribute to transversal initiatives within the Coordination function, particularly in areas related to process improvement, digitalization and operational scaling within FCLA
Support the collection and structuring of feedback from Research Groups and Operational Teams, contributing to continuous improvement and to the identification of opportunities for process standardization and digitalization
Ensure that recurring operational issues are progressively translated into structured processes or institutional solutions, avoiding dependency on ad hoc or person-based interventions

Theoretical Quantum-Nano Photonics Group: Post-doctoral researcher position on topological ...

Sun, 24 May 2026 22:00:00 +0100

ICFO is offering a postdoctoral position to a well-qualified and highly motivated scientist, to work in the field of theoretical many-body quantum optics. The successful candidate will be joining the Theoretical Quantum Nanophotonics Group led by Dr. Darrick Chang. The researcher is expected to lead a project aimed at creating and stabilizing topologically ordered states, particularly fractional Quantum Hall states, using cavity-mediated interactions between atoms.

CO2 Mitigation Accelerated by Photons Group: Post-doctoral positions in electrochemical ...

Fri, 22 May 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 searching for up to four exceptional researchers who will work developing new concepts in dynamic catalyst design, through synthesis of new functional materials to environment manipulation (e.g. coatings) and reactor implementation (membranes, operating conditions), for a wide range of electrochemical reactions.

Optoelectronics Group: Research Engineer in quantum communication technologies

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

ICFO is offering a Research Engineer position to a motivated and talented young scientist who wishes to start and develop their scientific career in a stimulating and collaborative environment. The successful candidate will be joining the Optoelectronics group led by Prof. Dr. Valerio Pruneri. The candidate will contribute to the development of new protocols for quantum communication, both in fiber and free space. More specifically, the candidate will carry out experiments in the lab using entanglement as a resource. The candidate will also collaborate in photonic processing of signals, both classical and quantum.

Nanophotonics Theory Group: Post-doctoral position in design of integrated photonic waveguides ...

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +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 Nanophotonics Theory group led by Prof. Dr. Javier Garcia de Abajo. We aim to design waveguides integrated within a planar geometry, incorporating efficient in- and out-couplers to interface with external light sources. This architecture will serve as a platform for developing both optical sensors and optical signal processors, leveraging existing integrated photonics technologies. The approach focuses on using mature and commercially available photonic integration solutions to ensure scalability, compatibility, and cost-effectiveness. The project requires extensive electromagnetic modeling to optimize the waveguide structures for minimal loss, efficient confinement, and effective mode matching with external optical components. Particular attention will be given to the design of couplers that enable low-loss light injection and extraction, which are critical for device performance. In addition to waveguide optimization, the work involves comprehensive simulations of the proposed functionalities, including the waveguide ability to detect the presence of analytes. These sensing capabilities will be explored through both optical absorption mechanisms and phase modulation effects, which can be interrogated using on-chip interferometric configurations such as Mach-Zehnder interferometers. By quantifying changes in the guided mode due to the interaction with analytes, we aim to establish a foundation for compact, sensitive, and fast photonic sensing devices. The same waveguide platform will also be evaluated for use in signal processing applications, where phase-sensitive elements can enable filtering, switching, or modulation functionalities within an integrated photonics framework.