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This position is to participate in a NASA-supported project to study the differences between heterogeneous and homogeneous nucleation of ice. These differences are relevant to astrophysical studies of ice dust that occur in situations such as protoplanetary disks and interstellar space. The activities will involve work at Caltech on a project supervised by Prof. Paul Bellan and also collaborating on a project at JPL supervised by Dr. Murthy Gudipati. The Caltech project uses a dusty plasma with cooled electrodes where water vapor is injected and ice grains form as a consequence of homogeneous nucleation. The JPL project has a cryogenic linear ion trap where ice grains form about a non-ice nucleus so the nucleation is heterogeneous. The Caltech experiment is operating and the cryogenic linear ion trap is under construction.  

Desired competence:

• Experience: diagnostics of low temperature, weakly ionized plasmas
• Knowledge: optics, imaging, plasma physics, numerical techniques for data analysis, electronics, vacuum techniques, cryogenics, experiment design
• General: Excellent oral and written communication skills