About this course
Through this optical fibre course, you'll gain specialist knowledge of technologies that harness the power of light, such as lasers and optical fibres. You'll also master the engineering skills and business insight to apply your knowledge in this growth sector.
In 2017 we were awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education, in recognition of our world-leading expertise in photonics and fibre optic technology.
If you've got a passion for physics and engineering materials, but want to keep your job opportunities open, this optics and photonics engineering course will allow you to explore both. Many of our students go on to study for a PhD, but many also go into industry, or set up their own business.
You’ll be part of an active, research-focused, postgraduate-only community; the largest photonics group in the UK. You'll also have a rare opportunity to see firsthand how fibres are made, as we’re one of only a handful of universities with optical fibre production facilities.
During this MSc degree, you'll make photonic components and devices in our new 1,200m2 cleanroom complex. This is the largest multidisciplinary cleanroom of its type in the UK.
Our inventions can be found on the Moon, on Mars and on the International Space Station. We built the foundations of the internet and our research is powering changes in medicine, telecommunications, defence, renewable energy and manufacturing.
Some of the best photonics researchers in the world will support you to develop your research skills and you’ll gain hands-on experience of the many practical applications of optical fibres and photonics engineering.
You'll gain practical insights into how to run a modern photonics business through our Industrial Showcase Week. During the week you’ll visit several businesses and learn from experienced photonics business leaders how to apply research and engineering skills to real-world problems.
We’ll foster your entrepreneurial spirit, helping you develop your ideas and connect with mentors and investors; 11 spin-out companies have so far been developed from our Optical Research Centre.
Course lead
Bill Brocklesby started in research at the Clarendon Laboratory in Oxford, working on laser spectroscopy. He worked as a post-doctoral member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell laboratories. His research has centred around novel imaging & microscopy techniques in the visible and XUV spectral regions over the last 10-15 years. He is currently working on coherent diffractive imaging of nanoscale systems using XUV radiation generated by high-power ultrashort pulse lasers.
Dr Brocklesby was Project Manager of the ICAN project, conceived by Gérard Mourou and Toshiki Tajima, which studied large-scale beam combination of ultrafast fibre lasers for wake-field acceleration. Large-scale beam combination remains a topic of interest.
He also has extensive research experience in:
- raman microscopy
- scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM)
- atomic force microscopy & scanning tunneling microscopy
- optical spectroscopy of rare-earth doped materials and optical fibres.
Course location
This course is based at Highfield.
Awarding body
This qualification is awarded by the University of Southampton.
Download the Course Description Document
The Course Description Document details your course overview, your course structure and how your course is taught and assessed.
Changes due to COVID-19
Although the COVID-19 situation is improving, any future restrictions could mean we might have to change the way parts of our teaching and learning take place in 2021 to 2022. We're working hard to plan for a number of possible scenarios. This means that some of the information on this course page may be subject to change.
Find out more on our COVID advice page.