About the project
This project will develop innovative multimode fibre amplifiers with spatiotemporal control of ultrafast laser pulses. By combining adaptive amplitude and phase shaping with nonlinear amplification, it aims to generate high-energy, ultrashort pulses with tailored beam profiles, overcoming limitations of conventional fibre lasers and enabling advanced applications in imaging, spectroscopy and precision processing.
Ultrafast fibre lasers are essential tools for scientific research, industrial processing and advanced imaging. However, conventional single-mode fibre amplifiers face fundamental limitations in pulse energy and peak power due to nonlinear effects, while multimode fibres offer the potential for larger core areas and higher energy scaling. Exploiting this potential remains challenging because of complex modal interactions, intermodal dispersion and nonlinear propagation, which can distort both the spatial and temporal characteristics of amplified pulses.
This project aims to establish a new approach to ultrafast pulse amplification through coordinated control of the spatial and temporal properties of light. By combining adaptive amplitude and phase shaping of input pulses with multimode gain fibres and nonlinear amplification, the research will investigate how the excitation of individual modes, modal interactions and gain distribution influence pulse evolution.
The project will explore whether carefully engineered input fields can produce ultrashort, high-energy pulses with user-defined spatial profiles while maintaining good beam quality and temporal integrity. Numerical modelling and experimental validation will be used to develop a predictive understanding of spatiotemporal dynamics in nonlinear multimode amplifiers.
The intended outcomes include new physical insights into the interaction between gain, dispersion and nonlinear mode coupling; experimental demonstrations of controlled spatiotemporal amplification; and design strategies for generating application-specific ultrafast optical fields.
Potential applications include high-energy ultrafast laser systems, nonlinear microscopy, precision material processing and advanced optical manipulation. By moving beyond conventional single-mode amplification, this research could open new routes to scaling ultrafast fibre-laser performance while providing unprecedented flexibility in shaping amplified light.
The project will strengthen fundamental understanding of nonlinear multimode photonics and establish a foundation for future compact, high-performance laser technologies.
The School of Optoelectronics (ORC) is committed to promoting equality, diversity inclusivity as demonstrated by our Athena SWAN award. We welcome all applicants regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or age, and will give full consideration to applicants seeking flexible working patterns and those who have taken a career break. The University has a generous maternity policy, onsite childcare facilities, and offers a range of benefits to help ensure employees’ well-being and work-life balance. The University of Southampton is committed to sustainability and has been awarded the Platinum EcoAward.
