Additive manufacturing for mechanical components has advanced rapidly over the last decade, both in terms of materials (metals, polymers, glasses) and methods (powder-bed, extrusion, optical projection). As enabling technologies, these rapid prototyping tools are being applied to engineering and scientific research across a broad range of fields, including robotics, aerospace, distributed sensing and medical technologies.  However, the composition of additive manufacturing components is still limited in terms of the materials that can be employed and the resolution with which structures can be defined.  This limits deployment in areas such as embedded optics, where sub-micron resolution and low absorption materials are required to realise sensing and communication functions in complex mechanical components. 

This project will bring together three key materials technologies to deliver a new form of additive manufacturing for embedded optics.  Firstly, high resolution extrusion, jetting and stereolithography methods will be used to create mechanical super-structures for applications in robotics, requiring complex 3D topologies.  Secondly, photonic ‘nerves’ will be integrated through these materials using optical polymers to guide light around the structures, linking remote sensor elements to processing and monitoring nodes.  This requires development of flexible photonic wires of micron-scale cross-section fabricated on flexible substrates, or created directly in the mechanical superstrates via in-filling.  Finally, key optical functions for light generation, detection and sensing require the use of micron-scale semiconductor components integrated with the optical nerve endings.  These can be realised on the complex surfaces through a nanoscale accurate process of transfer-printing.  We have developed a custom toolset at the University of Strathclyde to carry out this integration with current demonstrations on planar chips and fibre tip geometries.  This project will extend the method to interface with the curved surfaces of the superstructures fabricated through additive manufacturing.

The student will develop expertise across traditionally separate fields of materials, manufacturing and optical science and engineering to apply to the integration of micro-scale optical devices, macro-scale additive manufacturing and photonic wire technologies.  Furthermore, this work requires the automated design and simulation of optical and mechanical systems and their interfacing through digital design and layout environment development.  This focussed PhD project will enable the student to develop capability in these complementary areas, supported by the collaborating groups, and spearhead a new form of materials integration with clear routes to exploitation in manufacturing.

This project is supported by the Institute of Photonics and the National Manufacturing Institute of Scotland, at the University of Strathclyde.  The student will have access to state-of-the-art microfabrication and additive manufacturing equipment, alongside advanced optical measurement labs across both sites. In addition to the PhD training programme, the student will be part of a cohort of researchers at the Institute of Photonics and will be supported in the development of professional skills in research communication, project planning and will have access to regular technical seminars, journal clubs and group social activities.

Institute of Photonics

The Institute of Photonics (IoP), part of the Department of Physics, is a centre of excellence in applications-oriented research at the University of Strathclyde.  The Institute’s key objective is to bridge the gap between academic research and industrial applications and development in the area of photonics. The IoP is located in the £100M Technology and Innovation Centre on Strathclyde’s Glasgow city centre campus, at the heart of Glasgow’s Innovation District, where it is co-located with the UK’s first Fraunhofer Research Centre. Researchers at the IoP are active in a broad range of photonics fields under the areas of Photonic Devices, Advanced Lasers and Neurophotonics