PhD in Engineering - AI-Ready Photonic Chips with Built-In Quantum Thermometry

About the Project

Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) are emerging as a transformative platform for next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) hardware, enabling ultrafast, energy-efficient optical data processing. However, as PICs scale to the densities required for AI acceleration, thermal effects become a critical bottleneck, limiting performance, reliability and efficiency. This challenge presents a global sustainability problem since data infrastructure is projected to consume over 20% of worldwide energy within a decade. Tackling this demands a step change in how temperature is measured and controlled directly on-chip.

This PhD will pioneer a new approach to nanoscale temperature sensing, combining photonics with quantum-enabled metrology to deliver accurate, calibration-resilient measurements within densely integrated PICs. Existing techniques suffer from drift and lack the spatial resolution needed for sub-micron devices. You will develop a fundamentally new class of on-chip thermometry that overcomes both limitations.

The project spans the full research and development pipeline from physics to nanoscale engineering; from modelling and design through to fabrication and experimental validation. Working in collaboration with the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL), you will realise and test fully integrated photonic sensors that incorporate light sources, resonant thermometers and detectors on a single chip. This is a unique opportunity to work at the cutting-edge of AI hardware, photonic integration and quantum metrology, contributing directly to the development of scalable low-carbon computing technologies.

You will work within the Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering (ENE) Division and will have access to the world leading facilities within the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre at the University of Glasgow. The project is a collaboration between the University of Glasgow and our partners at the National Physical Laboratory, the UK’s centre of excellence for metrology, where some of the research will be conducted.

Applications for this scholarship may be made here.

For informal enquiries about the project please contact Professor Stephen Sweeney https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/engineering/staff/stephensweeney/