Research Fellow in Ultra-Low-Loss Ring Resonators

Join Our Team – Research Fellow Opportunity at the Optoelectronics Research Centre

We are seeking a Research Fellow with a strong background in optical glass science and fabrication to join the EPSRC-funded PURE collaboration between the University of Southampton and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

This role sits at the boundary between fundamental glass materials science and world-leading integrated photonics. The central goal is to fabricate and understand ultra-low-loss silica-based waveguides and ring resonators that push optical loss to the physical limits set by glass chemistry, deposition physics, and surface roughness.

Are you a glass scientist excited to contribute to breakthroughs in quantum optics, precision sensing, and next-generation photonic systems? If so, we’d love to hear from you.

We invite applications to join our welcoming and collaborative team of world-leading researchers at the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC), University of Southampton. With over 350 staff and students, the ORC is an internationally recognised hub for cutting-edge research, delivering real-world impact across photonics, manufacturing, communication technologies, augmented reality, healthcare, renewable energy, and environmental solutions.

About the Role

As a valued member of our team, you will play a key role in the fabrication and characterisation of ultra-pure doped silica glass layers used to form the lowest-loss on-chip optical resonators ever demonstrated.

You will work on:

• Glass deposition using flame hydrolysis and related vapour phase methods
• Control of hydroxyl, metallic and particulate contamination in optical silica
• Understanding how the glass structure, impurities and interfaces set optical loss
• Fabrication of waveguides and ring resonators from these glass layers
• Optical characterisation of loss, scattering and resonator finesse

A core part of this role will involve close collaboration with our partners at Caltech and inter-institute visits to drive the project forward and translate our research into tangible innovations for the UK’s growing photonics sector, building upon our recent work published in Nature (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09889-w ).

Your Responsibilities

As part of the role, you will be required to operate and maintain state-of-the-art fabrication and characterisation equipment, liaise with our project partners at Caltech, develop innovative solutions, create new devices, publish results in leading journals, and investigate the potential to commercialise your outputs. Your attention to detail and commitment to excellence will help us create high-performance optical components that advance our research goals and commercial partnerships.

Who We’re Looking For

We seek a talented research fellow with skills and knowledge to complement our team. You should be comfortable working in a lab environment with furnaces, deposition systems, cleanroom tools and optical characterisation equipment. Experience with integrated photonics or resonators is useful, but a deep understanding of glass and materials behaviour is more important.

We are looking for someone who enjoys building things, measuring them properly, and then figuring out why they behave the way they do.

Applications are encouraged from those with a strong background in glass science, complemented by experience in optical fibre fabrication or photonics.  We are looking for a self-motivated researcher with good experimental skills who is willing to conduct research independently and collaboratively, and who values contributing to a supportive team environment. You will also help train and support researchers and PhD students in this role, so strong communication and mentoring skills will be a plus. A PhD or equivalent professional qualification is essential.

Due to the topic of the work, candidates must be exempt or eligible for an ATAS certificate; more details on ATAS can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/academic-technology-approval-scheme .

Informal enquiries: Prof James Gates gates@southampton.ac.uk