About the project
Coherent optical transmission is emerging as a key technology for beyond-50G passive optical networks. This project will develop novel low-complexity coherent solutions that overcome bandwidth limitations in future access networks, improving capacity, reach and spectral efficiency while maintaining low cost and power consumption.
Our online lives now run on bandwidth: 4K streaming, cloud gaming, generative AI. Behind it all sits the optical access network, the edge portion of the telecommunication network, and it is approaching its limits. Passive Optical Networks (PON) already bring fibre to millions of homes and premises with remarkable energy efficiency. But conventional systems based on intensity-modulation/direct-detection (IM/DD) technology are running out of headroom as demands for capacity, reach and spectral efficiency keep climbing.
Coherent transmission, traditionally used in metro and long-haul networks, is now moving into the access network. It is a leading candidate for beyond-50G PON, and it is recognised in the latest ITU-T standardisation work (ITU-T G Suppl. 88, 2025). This is a field being defined right now, and you could help shape it.
Why coherent technologies:
- higher bit rates meet the massive, rapidly fluctuating bandwidth demands of next-generation users and applications
- longer-reach cuts the need for intermediate equipment, lowering cost, power consumption and complexity
- efficient spectrum use helps build networks that scale with future growth rather than hit a bandwidth bottleneck
The project aims to develop a new type of coherent optical transmission technology specifically designed to solve an emerging bandwidth bottleneck in the future access network. It will investigate how optical and digital signal processing complexity can be reduced while maintaining robust operation under the practical constraints of access networks, including low-cost components, limited optical power budgets, wavelength-dependent losses, fibre dispersion, component imperfections and potentially burst-mode operation.
You'll be based at the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC), with access to X-band Labs, our state-of-the-art optical communications facility. You'll gain practical experience in the design of fibre-optic communication testbed using lasers, modulators, photodetectors, and high-speed (>70 GHz) arbitrary waveform generators and oscilloscopes. This project will benefit from collaboration with the national telecommunications industry on the implementation and characterisation of optical networks, providing you with valuable industrial exposure and opportunities to engage with real-world telecommunications technologies.
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.
