Post-Doc Position in Astronomical Instrumentation/Adaptive Optics

The Thüringer Landessternwarte (TLS) Tautenburg, located near the university town of Jena in Germany, conducts research in a wide variety of fields, ranging from studies of the Sun and extrasolar planets to clusters of galaxies. The institute operates the world-largest classical Schmidt telescope, a station of the
international Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), and a pathfinder station for the Solar Physics Research Integrated Network (SPRING). TLS was and is actively involved in the development of state-of-the-art instrumentation for 1.5 to 8-m class optical telescopes (e.g., ESO/La Silla, ESO/Paranal).

The offered position is in the context of high-precision astronomical spectroscopy. In a collaboration between TLS and the Fraunhofer Institute for applied Optics and Precision Engineering (IOF) in Jena, TLS is developing a compact telescope interface module based on adaptive optics to inject
light of celestial objects into a single-mode optical wave guide. The project is supported by the Bundesland Thuringia and co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) Plus. The successful applicant will work in close interaction with the instrument teams at TLS and IOF on various task such as:

• the concept evaluation of various subsystems (modelling and experiments)
• the preparation of experiments and bread-board setups in the lab and for real telescopes
• the correction mechanism for atmospheric differential refraction
• the optimal wavefront sensing strategy

The offered position can be filled immediately and is offered on a fixed-term contract until 31 Dec 2027.