Graduate/Postgraduate Student Opportunities & Scholarships
Advanced device design for femtosecond-laser written optical waveguides
Supervisors: Mike Steel, Mick Withford, Judith Dawes, Graham Marshall
The new technology of femtosecond laser writing of waveguides and waveguide Bragg gratings allows unprecedented freedom and control in the creation of optical circuits and devices with full 3D geometry. However, the design of devices that exploit this new freedom is still immature. This joint theoretical and experimental project will investigate the basic physics, optimization and fabrication of new types of gratings, couplers and other devices that depend explicitly on the freedom provided by laser writing. The theoretical work will combine analytic and numerical approaches and the experimental project will involve device manufacture using high-powered femtosecond lasers.