PhD position: PhD projects in Optical Communication

This is an open call of PhD projects in optical communication.

Internet traffic is growing by 25% each year as society becomes increasingly connected, driven by the needs of our increasingly connected society. The abrupt shift to remote work at the start of 2020 has given us a glimpse of the capacity crunch we could be facing in the near future, as high-speed 5G wireless connections, self-driving cars and the internet of things put more stress on our networks.

To support this demand, we need to explore new technologies that can change the way we use our optical fibre networks. At InPAC, we’re looking at photonic technologies to address issues in our optical communications systems with optical physics. Our goal is to provide technology options that can increase data carrying capacity, while decreasing power consumption, size and potentially cost.

We’re investigating systems that generate the equivalent of hundreds of lasers from a single device, that allow massive data rates with inexpensive laser sources, fix unknowable distortions from transmission in optical fibres automatically, and testing novel technologies in real-world fibres.

As part of the team, you will learn how to build and characterize state-of-the-art optical communication systems, learn relevant skills in communications theory and digital signal processing, and gain insight into some novel physics that underpin our photonic approaches. You’ll be part of international team, learn how to co-ordinate and manage your own research projects, and do all of the things that make a PhD a real ‘research apprenticeship’.

Please contact Dr. Bill Corcoran and Dist. Prof. Arnan Mitchell for more information.