Call for expression of interest

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-PF-2021) in material science

The Institute of Mechatronics and Technical Informatics at the Technical University of Liberec would like to invite MSCA-Postdoctoral-Fellowship applications from eligible candidates in the field of piezoelectrics and dielectric smart-materials research.

Research topic: Nanostructured ferroelectric materials for MEMS

Keywords:ferroelectric materials, domain structure, domain walls, simulation, multiscale modelling

Devices based on ferroelectric materials represent a huge market in the field of sensors, actuators, memories, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), etc. The whole branch is rapidly developing, and novel ideas and concepts are quickly turned into realizations. The ferroelectric community is currently investigating plenty of physical phenomena, which are deemed exploitable for technological purposes. These include properties of dense domain structure patterns, the interaction of domain walls between themselves and with defects of different kinds, self-organization of domains in heterostructures, condition for existence and behavior of topological defects in the ferroelectric matrix, enhanced electromechanical properties of dielectric materials at the proximity of phase-transitions, and many others.

In this vibrant field, our research is focused on the fundamental properties of ferroelectrics, where we participate in the framework of the phase-field simulations: we study appearance and evolution of ferroelectric domain patterns, in particular under driving fields that resemble situations in real operation conditions. It turns out that the domain structure is, in many cases, determinant for the piezoelectric, dielectric, optical, and other properties of ferroelectrics. We develop and maintain the computer code Ferrodo for simulations of evolution of domains and domain walls. We are participating in the explanation of experimentally observed phenomena related to domains at a scale that cannot be typically accessed by more accurate first-principles and atomistic methods. Our expertise is not only in simulations, but also in the development of accurate parametrizations for materials under study as well.

Applicants interested in the topic, with experience with computational solid-state physics, should send a CV and a short letter of interest summarizing their experience and motivation to pavel.marton@tul.cz , in order to discuss potential topics for the project. An eligible candidate who decides for the project, will receive support with the writing of his/her proposal by the Technical University of Liberec. In case of a successful application, we expect the beginning of research in April 2022.

Eligibility requirements for the MSCA PF researcher:

• The candidate may be of any nationality
• The candidate must be in possession of a doctoral degree (at the date of the call deadline)
• The researcher must have a maximum of 8 years of research experience
• The candidate cannot have resided, worked or studied in the Czech Republic for more than 12 months in the three years immediately before the call deadline
• Only one proposal per candidate may be submitted to MSCA PF call

Ing. Pavel Márton, Ph.D. tel: +420 48535 3837

pavel.marton@tul.cz

ORCID 0000-0001-7273-7288

Researcher ID G-1611-2011

Scopus Author ID 57205889974

https://www.tul.cz/en/research/grant-programs/msca/

https://www.tul.cz/en/research/grant-programs/