We welcome applications from prospective students and researchers of all backgrounds, and particularly from those who are under-represented in photonics.
Please contact Prof. Derryck Reid if you are interested in joining the group as a visiting researcher or as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow.
We are seeking to appoint a PhD candidate to start by 1 October 2026, with an application deadline of 31 March 2026.
The project concerns the development of new laser technology for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), which once completed will be the world's largest telescope. Its massive 39 metre diameter mirror will allow it to collect starlight whose spectra encode the periodic motions of exoplanets, and may even reveal the presence of signatures-of-life chemicals in exoplanet atmospheres.
The Ultrafast Optics Group at Heriot-Watt is part of the UK ELT consortium developing the components for the ANDES high-resolution spectrograph for the ELT. A critical component of ANDES is a "laser astrocomb"— a femtosecond laser that produces a regularly-spaced series of thousands of wavelengths, which can be used like a ruler to provide a highly precise calibration scale for the spectrographs used on the ELT. A general summary of how we use lasers for this purpose can be found in our article in The Conversation magazine.
Laser frequency combs are a special type of laser that produce a spectrum made up of many equally spaced, very sharp spectral lines—like the evenly spaced teeth of a comb. The technology was recognised in the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics, which was awarded for "contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique".
This is an experimentally-led research project in which we are building and characterising astrocombs—laser frequency combs specially designed for astronomy.
Research will focus on building and characterising astrocombs for three different spectral regions: 400–520 nm; 520–650 nm; and 650–1050 nm. Starting from a primary commercial femtosecond laser, the astrocombs are created using supercontinuum processes in nonlinear components including photonic crystal fibre and PPLN waveguides. These supercontinua are then filtered using Fabry-Perot cavities to increase the comb-mode spacing to a separation that matches the requirements of an astronomical spectrograph. The development of these technologies requires characterisations of the primary laser comb, the development and implementation of electronic comb stabilization techniques, optical design and spatial / temporal beam modelling, and optical alignment of nonlinear devices, cavities and diagnostics such as wavemeters and spectrographs. Spectral flattening techniques using spatial light modulators are also to be implemented in the system. An example of a recent milestone in the system development can be found in our 2024 Nature Communications paper.
Suitable applicants will have a first-class undergraduate masters degree (or equivalent) in physics or other relevant discipline. Applicants not meeting this formal criterion but having compensating research experience e.g. in industry, will also be considered. Candidates will join a diverse team of graduate and post-doctoral researchers. You should have a solid understanding of optics and lasers and have relevant experimental experience, for example through an undergraduate research project or research internship. While experimentally-led, the project will also include computational components, so experience in scientific programming for data analysis and capture, e.g. using Matlab or Python, is also valuable.
Interested candidates should begin by emailing Prof. Derryck Reid (D.T.Reid@hw.ac.uk) to arrange an informal call to discuss the project in more detail.
Formal applications must be made through the Heriot-Watt on-line application system. .
The project will start in October 2026.
Send enquiries to D.T.Reid@hw.ac.uk
Full funding, covering fees and stipend (in line with UKRI values), is only available for applicants who are UK nationals; have settled status; have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements); have indefinite leave to remain or enter, or are otherwise eligible for Home fee status.
We are seeking to appoint a talented PhD candidate to join the Ultrafast Optics Group at Heriot-Watt, to start by 1 October 2026, with an application deadline of 31 March 2026.
The project is to develop a faster and more sensitive implementation of dual-comb ranging—an optical metrology technique combining interferometry-like precision with time-of-flight accuracy.
The project is hosted at Heriot-Watt University but is co-sponsored by our partner AWE Nuclear Security Technologies, and is expected to involve some short secondments to their facility in Aldermaston.
Heriot-Watt has developed a LiDAR-like version of dual-comb ranging, in which each distance measurement is reduced to just one precision time-stamp. In this way, our dual-comb LiDAR approach reduces the data burden of interferometric dual-comb ranging by several orders of magnitude, opening the way to continuous data streaming, ultrafast measurements and rapid imaging.
Further details of our previous research in this area are contained in our patent and associated paper, and subsequent publications detailing multiple-target and non-cooperative-surface configurations.
AWE Nuclear Security Technologies have an interest in applying dual-comb LiDAR for measuring both static and dynamic assemblies. This experimentally-based PhD project will address limitations in the current state-of-the-art of dual-comb ranging techniques, which still lack the speed, sensitivity and versatility of conventional LiDAR, restricting their practical application.
Motivated specifically by the needs of end-users in the advanced manufacturing sector and specifically by the use-cases proposed by AWE, we aim to address these limitations by enhancing dual-comb ranging with single-photon detection, to realise sub-µm precision ranging and imaging from diffuse surfaces at 100 kHz single-point update rates.
The research project aims at a number of innovations that will lead to publishable results and ultimately will be of interest to AWE's business:
(1) Improving the sensitivity of dual-comb LiDAR
Our existing system utilises a two-photon gated photodiode to generate accurate temporal measurements from the system. Efficient nonlinear optical frequency conversion techniques will be combined with sensitive detectors to improve the sensitivity of the dual-comb LiDAR approach.
(2) Assembly of dual-comb high-repetition-rate Er,Yb:glass lasers.
A laser-development aspect of the project will be to create a practical and transportable dual-comb system based on work emerging from the group that has realised a highly stable 1.56 µm ultrafast laser with direct application to dual-comb metrology. We will construct and configure this system to provide the repetition rate stability needed for high precision dual comb measurements.
(3) Improved clocking electronics
Previously utilised electronics utilised a microcontroller operating essentially as a stopwatch to measure arrival times of the measured photons. A LiDAR specific system will be implemented using higher-precision electronics which will improve temporal resolution to take advantage of the sensitivity and repetition rates previously discussed.
(4) Demonstration of accuracy (static)
The resulting dual-comb system will provide sub-micron distance accuracy at high speed. This will be demonstrated on a static system (for metrology) deemed a suitable analogy for AWE metrology applications i.e. similar distance, similar insertion loss, similar surface finish etc to a typical target).
(5) Demonstration of accuracy (dynamic)
The assembled system will provide the ability to determine displacement of a reflecting surface moving at high speed (km/s) enabling application to dynamic trials to be undertaken. The system will be tested on an appropriate gas gun and fielded against existing diagnostics in order to assess the performance in this regime.
Suitable applicants will have a first-class undergraduate masters degree (or equivalent) in physics or other relevant discipline. Applicants not meeting this formal criterion but having compensating research experience e.g. in industry, will also be considered.
Candidates will join a diverse team of graduate and post-doctoral researchers. You should have a solid understanding of optics and lasers and have relevant experimental experience, for example through an undergraduate research project or research internship.
While experimentally-led, the project will also include computational components, so experience in scientific programming for data analysis and capture, e.g. using Matlab or Python, is also valuable.
Interested candidates should begin by emailing Prof. Derryck Reid (D.T.Reid@hw.ac.uk) to arrange an informal call to discuss the project in more detail. Formal applications must be made through the Heriot-Watt on-line application system, https://www.hw.ac.uk/study/apply/uk/postgraduate.htm.
The project will start on 1 October 2026.
Send enquiries to D.T.Reid@hw.ac.uk
Full funding, covering fees and stipend (in line with UKRI values), is only available for applicants who are UK nationals; have settled status; have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements); have indefinite leave to remain or enter, or are otherwise eligible for Home fee status.
This project is funded by Heriot-Watt's Strategic EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Account (DLA). The student will receive an enhanced stipend of £2,500 per annum above the standard EPSRC rate.
US Patent Application US20240012143A1, "Apparatus and method for distance metrology"
Two-photon dual-comb LiDAR
Hollie Wright, Jinghua Sun, David McKendrick, Nick Weston and Derryck T. Reid,
OPTICS EXPRESS 29, 37037-37047 (2021).
Multi-target two-photon dual-comb LiDAR
Hollie Wright, Alexander J. M. Nelmes, Nick J. Weston, and Derryck T. Reid
OPTICS EXPRESS 31, 22497-22506 (2023).
Two-photon dual-comb LiDAR for precision ranging to non-optical targets
Hollie Wright, Alexander J M Nelmes and Derryck T Reid
J. PHYS. B: AT. MOL. OPT. PHYS. 58, 105402 (2025).
We currently have no postdoc student vacancies.