Polarization effects in antiresonant hollow core optical fibres

About the Project

Supervisory Team: Prof. Austin Taranta, Dr. Gianluca Guerra, Dr. Gregory Jasion and Dr. Ian Davidson

Dive into the mysterious world of polarization in antiresonant hollow core fibres, where conventional wisdom is turned on its head, and unexpected phenomena emerge every day. Through your insights and innovation, you will shape the future of this cutting-edge technology from data centres, to high-power lasers, to space systems.

Across the world, the race is on, to develop the optical fibres which will enable the sensors of the future and form tomorrow’s communications backbone. The antiresonant hollow core fibres (AR-HCFs) invented and pioneered in Southampton are now deployed at the forefront of these fields, and this project offers the opportunity to create the next innovation which will push these frontiers. AR-HCFs guide light in a fundamentally unique way, opening a vast and mostly unexplored design space, and offering novel properties which are revolutionizing photonics. Despite its integral importance to guidance, these novel fibres’ polarization behaviour is one of the least understood aspects of their performance.

Through this PhD you will uncover the physics behind polarization effects in AR-HCFs and develop strategies to control and optimize them.

Your work will be a balance of theory and experiment, as you:

• develop theoretical frameworks to uncover scaling laws and create predictive models of polarization behaviour
• model and explore the design space of AR-HCFs, to understand how geometric attributes influence polarization performance
• pioneer new polarimetric techniques, investigate deployed fibre behaviour, and build experiments that bridge observables to theory.

You will join the world-leading Hollow Core Fibre group, working in cutting-edge labs and collaborating closely with industry partners in a variety of fields. The outcomes of your research will contribute to the development of real-world systems deployed at scale, from aerospace to hyperscale datacoms to quantum technologies.

You will be given full training by your supervisory team and other researchers on the use of an array of cutting-edge analytical and experimental tools. From this foundation you will begin to grow your own new tools and techniques.

Entry requirements

You must have a 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, along with a solid foundation in waveguiding physics, electromagnetics, or advanced mathematics.

Experience with numerical modelling (e.g., COMSOL, MATLAB, Python) or optical experimentation is also desirable.

If you have a deep intellectual curiosity, drive to see your research put into practice, and the desire to solve mysteries at the frontiers of waveguiding physics, then we would love to hear from you!

Fees and funding

Full scholarships include tuition fees, a stipend at the UKRI rate plus 10% ORC enhancement tax-free per annum for up to 3.5 years (totalling £22,858 for 2025/26, rising annually) and a budget of £4200 for things like conference travel. UK, EU and Horizon Europe students are eligible for scholarships.

Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) students are eligible for fee waivers.

Funding for other international applicants is very limited and highly competitive.

Overseas students who have secured or are seeking external funding are welcome to apply.

How to apply

Apply now

You need to:

• choose programme type (Research), 2026/27, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
• select Full time or Part time
• search for programme PhD ORC (7097)
• add name of the supervisor in section 2 of the application

Applications should include:

• your CV (resumé)
• 2 academic references
• degree transcripts and certificates to date
• English language qualification (if applicable)