A one-year (with a possible extension to 2 years) post-doctoral position is open at Service de Recherches de Métallurgie Physique (SRMP), CEA Paris-Saclay, starting in November 2021 or early 2022.

Scientific context and goals. Identification and characterization of defects [1, 2] provide crucial information for interpretation of simulations and experiments that bridge the gap between atomic- and micrometer-scales. Recently, we have revised the concept of defects and proposed a universal strategy for their characterization at the atomic scale [1] using machine learning (ML) outlier detection based on statistical distances. The proposed strategy provides a generic measure that describes the distortion score of local atomic environments with respect to the defect-free structure. This score facilitates automatic defect localization in atomistic simulations and allows to distinguish the zones with different levels of distortion within the structure. This project aims to generalize the concept of distortion score for joint theoretical - experimental studies, for which the coordinates of atoms are available, such as Atom Probe Tomography (APT), where accurate structural interpretation still remains very challenging. The goal of the project is to: (i) improve the performance and accuracy of the structural analysis ; (ii) automatize the data treatment and (iii) quantify and decrease the incertitude caused by the choice of empirical parameters for the analysis.

Funding. The post-doctoral fellow will join a collaborative project “SYNERGY-AI: phySicallY iNformed intErpretation of atom pRobe tomoGraphY with Artificial Intelligence”, funded by the program “Numerical Simulations” of CEA.

Required skills. We are looking for a motivated candidate with PhD in materials science, physics, or related discipline, skilled in programming with python and Fortran. Previous experience in the development of ML/DL protocols or in the identification of defects in crystalline solids from experiments or atomic-scale simulations is a plus.

How to apply. Please send your application including a motivation letter and complete CV with the references that we may contact to Alexandra Goryaeva ([email protected]) and Mihai-Cosmin Marinica ([email protected]).

Practical information. Service de Recherches de Métallurgie Physique (SRMP) is part of the Department of Materials for Nuclear energy at CEA, Université Paris-Saclay. It is located 20 km southwest of Paris. SRMP laboratory has 30 full-time members with 25 graduate students.

References

[1] A. M. Goryaeva, C. Lapointe, C. Dai, J.-B. Maillet, M.-C. Marinica, (2020). Reinforcing materials modeling by encoding the structures of defects in crystalline solids into distortion scores. Nature Communications, 11, 4691

[2] K. Arakawa, M.-C. Marinica, S. Fitzgerald, L. Proville, D. Nguyen-Manh, S. L. Dudarev, P.-W. Ma, T. D. Swinburne, A. M. Goryaeva, T. Yamada, T. Amino, S. Arai, Y. Yamamoto, K. Higuchi, N. Tanaka, H. Yasuda, T. Yasuda, H. Mori (2020) Quantum de-trapping and transport of heavy defects in tungsten. Nature Materials, 19, 508-511