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Master Thesis Student in Quantum Information Technology (m/f/d)
Job Description
Req ID:  6265
Place of work:  Oberpfaffenhofen
Starting date:  01.12.2026
Career level:  Student research project and final thesis
Type of employment:  Part time
Duration of contract:  6 momths

Remuneration: Remuneration is in accordance with the Collective Agreement for the Public Sector - Federal Government (TVöD-Bund)

Enter the fascinating world of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V.; DLR) and help shape the future through research and innovation! We offer an exciting and inspiring working environment driven by the expertise and curiosity of our 12,000 employees from 100 nations and our unique infrastructure. Together, we develop sustainable technologies and thus contribute to finding solutions to global challenges. Would you like to join us in addressing this major future challenge? Then this is your place!

The DLR Institute of Communications and Navigation is dedicated to mission-oriented research in selected areas of communications and navigation. Its work ranges from the theoretical foundations to the demonstration of new procedures and systems in a real environment and is embedded in DLR's Space, Aeronautics, Transport, Security and Digitalization programmes.

What to expect

The Institute of Communications and Navigation (KN) at DLR conducts mission-oriented research in satellite navigation, quantum communications, and secure systems. You will join our quantum error correction team and contribute to the development and study of degeneracy-aware decoders. Belief propagation is the standard decoder for classical LDPC codes, but it is well known that on QLDPC codes it converges poorly, often failing to settle on the correct solution. Search-based decoders have been proposed as an alternative: they are slower, but far more reliable. Neither approach, however, is degeneracy-aware. Degeneracy is a phenomenon unique to quantum error correction, in which many distinct errors have the same logical effect on the encoded data. In this project you will work with a highly optimized search-based decoder developed by our team and extend it to exploit degeneracy. 

Your tasks

  • Extend our highly optimized search-based decoder to exploit degeneracy
  • Cuda optimization
  • Quantum circuit-level noise simulation
  • Benchmark our decoder against state-of-the-art alternatives

Your profile

  • Bachelor's degree in Physics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field
  • Enrollment in a Master's program in Physics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field
  • Solid foundation in quantum physics
  • Familiarity with quantum error correction is highly valued
  • Proficiency in Python, C++, and CUDA

We offer

DLR stands for diversity, appreciation and equality for all people. We promote independent work and the individual development of our employees both personally and professionally. To this end, we offer numerous training and development opportunities. Equal opportunities are of particular importance to us, which is why we want to increase the proportion of women in science and management in particular. Applicants with severe disabilities will be given preference if they are qualified.

We look forward to getting to know you!

 

If you have any questions about this position (Vacancy-ID 6265) please contact:

 

Dr. Bruno Coelho Coutinho 
Tel.: +49 (0) 8153 - 28 - 2084