2026-27: Optical and Laser Science Postdoc Postings (moderated by the Utrafast Optical Phenomena Technical Group)
All University, National Labs, and research institute postings are welcome. Please include a link to the job posting. Permanent faculty job rumors should be posted at Faculty Rumor Mill.
Post your postdoctoral openings here. Please consider updating the positions! Those without fixed closing dates may be removed after 6 months. The page is managed by volunteers from the Ultrafast Optical Phenomena Technical Group of OPTICA (formerly the Optical Society, OSA) Ultrafast Optical Phenomena Technical Group. It is not directly run by or endorsed by Optica.
How to Edit/Add job rumors: simply click the user-friendly “Edit” button at the bottom of the table. No registration is needed (warning anyone can modify them). The Optica Ultrafast Group will periodically delete old (>6 mo) postings. Specifying a deadline helps us remove old profiles.
| Research Field | Institution / Location | PI (s) | Deadline | Notes |
| Postdosctoral Position in Ultrafast Spectroscopy | Ludwig-Maximilians-Univ. Munich | Leonardo de S. Menezes | Open until filled | Efficient generation and manipulation of surface acoustic waves with plasmonic nanostructures; l.menezes@physik.uni-muenchen.de |
| Postdoc Position in Ultrafast Optics in Hollow-core Photonic Crystal Fibre | Russell Centre for Advanced Lightwave Science | Xin Jiang | Open until filled | For more information please see JOIN US page in official website: www.r-cals.com |
| Condensed matter experiment, time-resolved scattering, attosecond spectroscopy | Stanford | Alfred Zong | Open until filled | See https://zonglab.stanford.edu for more information. |
| Quantum and nonlinear optics experiment | Cornell | Nicholas Rivera | Open until filled | Email: nrivera AT cornell DOT edu. See https://rivera.aep.cornell.edu/ for more information. Application will work on one of various projects developing new types of bright ultrafast quantum light sources and working on the fundamental physics of quantum noise in nonlinear optical systems. |
| Quantum Research Institute Post-doctoral Fellowships | University of Michigan | various | April 1 | https://quantum.umich.edu/call-for-application-2026/ |
| Postdoctoral Position in Nanophotonics and Spectroscopy | MIT | Haoning Tang | Open until filled | See: https://reconfigurablephotonics.mit.edu/join.html |
This Rumor Mill is inspired by the CMO/AMO Physics Rumor Mill, but is focused on posting seeking applicants with interdisciplinary backgrounds common to the laser optical sciences. It is a place to search and post institutional-based jobs for applicants who are talented with (esp. ultrafast) optics and laser sciences. Please help to keep this list updated with postdoctoral positions that are relevant to:
Ultrafast phenomena (broadly defined) Ultrafast laser science Optical Spectroscopy Applied Physics in optics Optical CM and AMO experiment and theory, Optical Materials science, Optical Biophysics and laser microscopy Chemical Physics And other fields.
Send questions/problems to the Optica OU-Technical Group Chair, (M.W. Graham graham@physics.oregonstate.edu). This page is a community bulletin board; we make no claim as to the accuracy of the rumors or jobs posted.
Moderated by volunteer technical group members:
