PhD Studentship: Space-time beam shaping for scalable 3D printing of photonic circuits. Department of Physics and Astronomy, UQ-Exeter Institute PhD Studentship (Funded) for January 2027 Entry.

Project Description

The next generation of signal processing, computing and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies will be unlocked by the close integration of electronics and photonics. This project will deliver a new ultra-fast laser fabrication system capable of creating three-dimensional (3D) networks of waveguides in a few hundreds of femto-seconds, providing a scalable path to photonic network integration for emerging low-energy opto-electronic AI systems and beyond.

The challenge: Machine learning and neural networks are super-charging the complexity of problems that computer algorithms can solve. While conventional electronic information processors are exceedingly well-developed, their capabilities are being rapidly outstripped by the rapid rise of AI: both the training and inference phase of electronic neural networks is highly power-intensive, and their widespread use puts ever-increasing pressure on global energy infrastructure [1].  

Photonic circuits guide and process light-based signals in the optical domain [2]. Photonics is set to became a major part of future AI systems, due to its inherently low energy consumption, high-speed data transfer and vast potential for parallelisation. Signals are already carried between electronic processors in the optical domain in the form of high-speed fibre optic internet, inter-satellite laser communications, and optical interconnects across data centres. These optical connections will become ever shorter and more integrated with electronic systems, and will not only connect, but also process information themselves. This level of integration calls for scalable fabrication technologies which poses a critical challenge: connectivity is needed in 3D while conventional lithography is intrinsically 2D.  

Ultra-fast direct laser writing uses femtosecond pulses of focussed light to structure materials in 3D [3, 4]. By scanning a high-power laser beam through a medium, it can ‘draw’ 3D networks of waveguides (freestanding or embedded within a glass substrate), and more complex optical components [3,4]. Direct laser writing has enormous potential to address photonic integration challenges. Yet at present structures are slowly created one voxel at a time. Our project moves from sequential to parallel laser writing, increasing fabrication rates by up to two orders of magnitude.

Our vision: We will combine advanced spatio-temporal beam shaping technology developed by Mounaix at UQ [5, 6] with the high-speed laser beam shaping [7-9] and direct laser-writing capabilities [3,4] of Phillips at Exeter. By intricately shaping single fs-laser pulses in space, time and polarisation, elaborate beam shapes will be created that rapidly laser fabricate optical components within a few hundred femtoseconds. Our demonstrator system will allow near-arbitrary structures to be dialled up by the user, offering a versatile and highly scalable laser fabrication tool for next-generation photonic technologies. 

[1] Momeni, Ali, et al. (2025) Nature 645.8079. 

[2] Bogaerts, W. et al. (2020) Nature 586(7828). 

[3] Būtaitė, U. G., …& D.B. Phillips (2019). Nature Communications 10(1). 

[4] Būtaitė U.G., …& D.B. Phillips (2026). arXiv:2602.07222 

[5] Mounaix, M. et al. Nature Communications (2020) 11(1). 

[6] Komonen, A.V., …& M. Mounaix. (2025) arXiv:2506.20365. [under review at Nature Photonics] 

[7] Stellinga, D., D.B. Phillips et al. (2021) Science 374(6573). 

[8] Rocha, J.C., …& D.B. Phillips (2025). Nature Communications 17(73). 

[9] Mididoddi, C.K., …& D.B. Phillips (2025). Nature Photonics 19(4).

Contact

Questions about this project should be directed to Professor David Phillips at D.Phillips@exeter.ac.uk.

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