About the project
Join a PhD at the University of Southampton to build optoelectronic neural-networks and hardware for neuromorphic computing. You’ll design, fabricate and test III–V-on-silicon photonic circuits for AI inference and ultra-fast data-links. Learn cleanroom, simulation and characterisation skills in a supportive, world-leading silicon photonics group with industry and international collaborators.
Imagine computing that thinks with light. In this PhD you will create nanostructured optoelectronic neural networks; photonic chips that perform artificial-intelligence tasks using ultrafast, low-power signals.
Working in the University of Southampton’s Silicon Photonics Group within Optoelectronics Research Centre, you’ll help co-integrate group-III–V lasers with complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible silicon photonic circuits.
Your day-to-day will mix creativity and hands-on making:
- sketch ideas
- run electromagnetic and multiphysics simulations
- turn designs into real devices in our Zepler cleanroom
- then characterise them with high-speed electro-optical measurements.
You’ll see a design travel from a notebook to a packaged chip; and learn how to communicate the results at conferences and in journals. Depending on your interests, you can focus on device physics, scale up photonic very-large-scale integration (VLSI), or explore system-level neural architectures and benchmarking.
You won’t work alone. You’ll join a friendly cohort of PhD researchers and collaborate with academic and industrial partners in the UK and overseas.
We value curiosity, teamwork and growth; you’ll receive close supervision and tailored training so you can stretch into new skills with confidence. Impact matters. Your work will contribute to scalable, energy-efficient photonic VLSI for data-centre AI inference, optical interconnects and rapid data movement; technologies the world urgently needs.
You will get the following training:
- photonic and electromagnetic co-design (FDTD, eigenmode) and Python or Matlab for modelling and data
- nanofabrication in the Zepler cleanroom (lithography, deposition, etch, bonding)
- device and system characterisation (electro-optical tests, high-speed measurements)
- professional skills: writing, presenting, project management, entrepreneurship, research integrity.
Explore our Silicon and compound photonics research Lab environment. If you’re excited by the project but don’t tick every box, we still encourage you to apply.
The School of Optoelectronics (ORC) is committed to promoting equality, diversity inclusivity as demonstrated by our Athena SWAN award. We welcome all applicants regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or age, and will give full consideration to applicants seeking flexible working patterns and those who have taken a career break. The University has a generous maternity policy, onsite childcare facilities, and offers a range of benefits to help ensure employees’ well-being and work-life balance. The University of Southampton is committed to sustainability and has been awarded the Platinum EcoAward.
