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NEWS3 Mar 2020News

H2020 ETN project MEFISTA - Multi-scale fibre-based optical frequency combs: science, technology and applications

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The European Training Network MEFISTA – Multi-scale fibre-based optical frequency combs: science, technology and applications - announces 6 positions for Early-Stage Researchers with the option of being awarded a doctoral degree. MEFISTA ESRs will acquire unique knowledge and research skills on optical frequency comb (OFC) technology from the theory to implementation: development of novel mode-lockingg techniques and speciality fibres and waveguides for mode-locked lasers (MLLs), mid-infrared (mid-IR) tunable dual combs sources for molecular fingerprinting, design and characterisation of dual-comb MLLs, and MLLs manufacturing. Positions will be available at Aston University (Birmingham, UK); Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain); Universite de Lille (Lille, France); Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland); Richmond Design & Marketing Limited (Coventry, UK); NKT Photonics A/S (Birkerod, Denmark).

MEFISTA Partner Organisations are: Technical University of Denmark (Denmark), Nexeya (France) and Alpha RLH (France).

 

Summary:

MEFISTA is a doctoral-level training network funded by the European Commission under Horizon2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie ITN Action. MEFISTA will provide a world-class advanced training programme to 6 early-stage researchers (ESRs) to the level of the next generation of leaders in the fields MLLs-based OFCs technologies, by exploiting challenging interaction between academy (Aston, UPC, ULille, EPFL and DTU) and industry (NKT and RDM).

MEFISTA ESRs will acquire the scientific and technical skills to push OCF technologies into wider technological use for autonomous driving systems.

 

Project description:

The key photonic technology that enables a cluster of applications and so is a driving force for an expanding photonics market in the context of addressing the global challenges is an optical frequency comb (OFC) technology based on mode-locked femtosecond lasers (MLFLs). To respond to the huge demand for qualified experts on OFC technologies, MEFISTA will deliver research and training collaborations that will help ESRs to acquire unique knowledge and research skills on OFC technology from the theory to implementation: development of novel mode-locking techniques and speciality fibres and waveguides for MLFLs, mid-infrared (mid-IR) tunable dual combs sources for molecular fingerprinting, design and characterisation of dual-comb MLFLs, and MLFLs manufacturing. A special focus will be the industrial applications related to development and trial tests of MLFLs in the context of autonomous driving (car-object distance ranging, object recognition, moving objects speed tracing: Doppler LIDAR). The requirement of a new generation of LIDAR with object recognition ability is driven by the demand of high safety standards that autonomous driving vehicles will have to satisfy to guarantee an efficient service to society, by minimising the risk of accidents, especially in harsh and unpredictable environments.

The Training Programme (TP) will be implemented through the unique combination of the “hands-on” research training, non-academic placements and advanced inter/multidisciplinary/ inter-sectoral training on nonlinear science, laser physics, fibre optics, and autonomous driving technologies and transferable skills including Research Integrity, Gender Dimension in Research, and Open Science. The TP will also be supported by synergistic merging the expertise of 4 academic, two non-academic beneficiaries and 1 academic partner from 5 countries.

The positions are for 36 months and expected to begin in early spring 2020 (subject to negotiation).

The ETN MEFISTA programme offers 6 Individual Research Projects:

 

List of open positions:

 

ESR1 Project

  • Title: New physical concepts for dual-frequency comb generation in passive fibre cavities
  • Host institution and PhD enrolment: Universite de Lille (Lille, France) https://www.univ-lille.fr/
  • Main supervisor: Prof. A. Mussot Arnaud mussot@univ-lille.fr
  • Secondments: 3 months at Aston, 3 months at RDM

 

ESR2 Project

  • Title: Novel mode-locking techniques based on unconventional (non-Hermitian) fibre structuring
  • Host institution and PhD enrolment: Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain) www.upc.edu/ca
  • Main supervisor: Prof. K. Staliunas Kestutis staliunas@icrea.cat
  • Secondments: 3 months at NKT, 3 months at Aston

 

ESR3 Project

  • Title: Design and experimental characterisation of comb sources in the short-wave infrared
  • Host institution and PhD enrolment: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland) https://www.epfl.ch/en/
  • Main supervisor: Prof. C. S. Brès camille.bres@epfl.ch
  • Secondments: 3 months at Ulille, 3 Months at RDM

 

ESR4 Project

  • Title: Design, theoretical and experimental characterisation of ellipsometric LIDAR (ELIDAR)
  • Host institution and PhD enrolment: Aston University www.aston.ac.uk
  • Main supervisor: Assoc Prof. Sergey Sergeyev s.sergeyev@aston.ac.uk
  • Secondments: 3 months at NKT, 3 months at RDM

 

ESR5 Project

  • Title: Distance ranging and target recognition in harsh weather conditions based Ellipsometric LIDAR (ELIDAR)
  • Host institution: Richmond Design & Marketing Limited (Coventry, UK) http://rdmgroup.co.uk/
  • PhD enrolment: Aston University www.aston.ac.uk
  • Main supervisor: Prof. D. M. Keene dkeene@rdmgroup.co.uk
  • Secondments: 3 months at Aston, 3 months at EPFL

 

ESR6 Project

 

For more information click here.

ESR MSCA H2020