Development and application of a software platform for nanophotonics

Contract type : Fixed-term contract

Renewable contract : Yes

Level of qualifications required : Graduate degree or equivalent

Fonction : Temporary scientific engineer

Level of experience : Recently graduated

About the research centre or Inria department

The Inria Sophia Antipolis - Méditerranée center counts 37 research teams and 9 support departments. The center's staff (about 600 people including 400 Inria employees) is composed of scientists of different nationalities (250 foreigners of 50 nationalities), engineers, technicians and administrators. 1/3 of the staff are civil servants, the others are contractual. The majority of the research teams at the center are located in Sophia Antipolis and Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes. Six teams are based in Montpellier and a team is hosted by the computer science department of the University of Bologna in Italy. The Center is a member of the University and Institution Community (ComUE) "Université Côte d'Azur (UCA)".

Context

Atlantis is  a joint project-team  between Inria and  the Jean-Alexandre Dieudonné Mathematics Laboratory at  Université Côte d'Azur. The team  gathers applied mathematicians and  computational scientists who are collaboratively undertaking  research activities aiming at the design, analysis, development and  application of innovative numerical methods for systems of  partial differential equations (PDEs) modelling nanoscale light-matter interaction problems. In this context, the team is  developing  the   DIOGENeS  [https://diogenes.inria.fr/]  software suite,  which  implements  several Discontinuous  Galerkin  (DG)  type methods tailored to the systems  of time- and frequency-domain Maxwell equations  possibly coupled  to  differential  equations modeling  the behaviour of propagation  media at optical frequencies.  DIOGENeS is a unique  numerical   framework  leveraging   the  capabilities   of  DG techniques  for  the simulation  of  multiscale  problems relevant  tonanophotonics and nanoplasmonics.

Assignment

The main objective in this assignment is to participate in the develoment capabilities of the numerical tools developed in  the DIOGENeS software suite.

 

The recruited engineer will also actively participate in the studies conducted by the Atlantis team members for demonstrating the benefits of these numerical tools  through the simulation of realistic and challenging use cases pertaining to various applications of nanoscale light-matter interactions. In particular, the team is now actively collaborating with potential end-users of the DIOGENeS software suite who are raising various modeling issues that need to be addressed prior to simulating such realistic uses cases. 

Main activities

Concretely, this will concern three components of DIOGENeS:

  • On one hand, the computational kernels for solving the differential models of nanophotonics. Here, the goal will be to implement novel strategies to enhance the performances, the functionnalities and the user experience (Fortran, MPI, OpenMP);
  • On the other hand, the pre- and post- processing workflows for building meshes (GFactory component), processing complex observables (Observer component) and mastering and enhancing  the properties of nanophotonic structures and devices. Here, the goal will be to develop and maintain those softs in accordance with DIOGENeS users demands (Python).

Skills

Candidates will  hold a Master degree or a PhD degree in applied mathematics/scientific computing or computational wave physics or computational photonics.

Required skills:

  • Knowledge of numerical analysis and development of finite element  type methods for computational physics;
  • Strong programming skills (Fortran 2003+ and Python);
  • Fluent spoken and written English.

Other skills that will be appreciated:

  • Experience in numerical modeling for computational electromagnetics;
  • High performance computing programming models (MPI, OpenMP/OpenACC, CUDA).

Benefits package

  • Subsidised catering service
  • Partially-reimbursed public transport
  • Social security
  • Paid leave
  • Flexible working hours
  • Sports facilities

Remuneration

From 2652 euros gross monthly (according to degree and experience)