Are you passionate about developing novel research and keen to shape the future of energy transfer technologies in areas such as, optical coatings, laser systems, materials science and engineering? We are recruiting a motivated PhD candidate to undertake an exciting project within the EPSRC Energy Transfer Technologies Doctoral Training Hub. As a student of the Hub, you will receive an enhanced stipend of £24,780 per year, plus additional funds of £7,000 a year for travel, conferences and research equipment. This project is co- funded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL).

The studentship will focus on developing advanced metrology techniques to detect, classify, and mitigate defects in high-power optical coatings for directed energy systems. The research will investigate defects in ion beam deposited optical coatings that limit the laser-induced damage threshold performance and will explore novel defect removal techniques to enhance the resilience of optical components for defence applications. You will get hands-on experience on UK’s first production-level ion beam deposition testbed, Extreme Performance in Optical Coatings, located in the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) which is hosted and operated by the University of Strathclyde.

Objectives

The main objectives of this project are:

• development of advanced novel metrology methods to detect and classify defects in optical coatings, both in-situ and ex-situ
• research on optical models to predict coating failure at high power levels
• exploration of nanosecond and femtosecond pulsed laser systems for defect removal

The hub

The Doctoral Hub specialises in developing research and training the next generation of leaders in energy transfer technologies for defence and related sectors. The successful candidate will be based at the University of Strathclyde and throughout their PhD will benefit from the support and expertise of our diverse academic community, a community of students working towards similar goals, as well as our specialist industrial network. Please check the Energy Transfer Skills training hub website for further details.