Postgraduate research opportunities Development & manufacture of laser mirror coatings for future gravitational wave observatories & other space applications

PhD opportunity with Biomedical Engineering and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland.

In 2014, a new window on the Universe was opened by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) with the first detection of gravitational waves, associated with the merger of two stellar mass black holes. This was the single most energetic event observed, converting 3 solar masses into gravitational radiation energy in approximately a ¼ second, and the detection was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017. Since then, further binary black hole mergers have been observed, in addition to the first observation of a binary neutron star merger in 2017, which was observed both in gravitational and electromagnetic radiation, shedding new insight into the expansion of the Universe and the origin of elements. By the end of 2020, over 50 neutron star and black hole binary coalescences have been observed and confirmed.

Future improvements to detector sensitivity are required to truly exploit this new field of gravitational wave astronomy. One of the most challenging areas is reducing thermally driven motion (Brownian thermal noise) associated with the laser mirror coatings used in the interferometric detection system. The University of Strathclyde is a member of the LSC and Einstein Telescope consortium, and is leading the international development of microwave (electron cyclotron resonance) ion beam deposition, for fabricating extreme performance mirror coatings. Funding has been provided through UKRI-STFC to fully fund a 3.5 year PhD project to develop multilayer laser mirror coatings.

This project will gain access to the Centre for Extreme Performance Optical Coatings (EPOC) situated within the newly established National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland (NMIS), and will engage with the local and national photonics industry to help support the development of next-generation optical coating technology, and explore routes to generate intellectual property and societal benefit.

This project will involve collaborative visits to Caltech, and will also collaborate closely with other members within the LSC, particularly the University of Glasgow, the University of the West of Scotland, Stanford University, and the University of Montreal Polytechnique.