PhD Studentship: Laser modification of materials at micro- and nanoscale for photonics and informat

High-power ultrafast lasers enable the new technique of direct optical writing for patterning waveguides and nanostructures in three dimensions, to provide entirely new functionalities. Three-dimensional photonic structures will allow significant increases in the scale of integration in optical information processing and data storage opening tantalizing possibilities in the fields of photonics and information technology including recent demonstration of 5D data storage.

This project explores a variety of advanced ultrafast laser material processing techniques, the ultrafast physics of femtosecond photosensitivity and applications of 3D photonic structures.

Please contact: (@soton.ac.uk) for further details.

The PhD programme

The Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) PhD comprises a solid education for a research career. The structured first year involves attending our training programme running in parallel with carrying out your research project. This provides a smooth transition from your degree course towards the more open-ended research that takes place in the following years under the guidance of your project supervisors. We expect the vast majority of our students to present their work at international conferences and to write papers in leading academic journals as their research progresses. Students will emerge from the PhD with skills at the forefront of future fiber laser research and will benefit from the many opportunities to interact with the wider community of PhD students across the Southampton Campus through academic, sporting and cultural events. 

The ORC is the leading photonics research institute in the UK and possibly in Europe. It comprises state-of-the-art cleanrooms for optical fibre, planar photonics, silicon and bio-photonics fabrication and over 80 laboratories. Computer simulations will benefit from Southampton’s high performance computing cluster Iridis, one of the largest supercomputers in the UK. A PhD at the ORC has enabled our past graduates to make successful careers in academia, in national scientific laboratories, and as scientists or business leaders in industry. Our research papers, patents, spin-off companies and these successful alumni taken together place Southampton amongst the top institutes worldwide. 

Key facts

Entry requirements: first or upper second-class degree or equivalent

Closing date: applications should be received no later than 31 August 2018 for standard admissions, but later applications may be considered depending on the funds remaining in place.

Duration: typically three years (full-time)

Funding: full tuition plus, for UK students, stipend of £14,777 tax-free per annum for up to 3.5 years. www.orc.southampton.ac.uk/phd_funding.html

Assessment: eight-and 16-month reports and viva voce determine progression to PhD; progression reports, viva voce and thesis examination

Start date: typically September

Applying: www.southampton.ac.uk/postgraduate/pgstudy/howdoiapplypg.html