PhD in Optical fibre sensing for ultra-high-pressure rheometry

Organisation/Company Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) Research Field Engineering » Electrical engineering Engineering » Mechanical engineering Engineering » Systems engineering Engineering » Other Physics » Applied physics Physics » Optics Physics » Other Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Application Deadline 30 Sep 2026 - 21:59 (UTC) Country Belgium Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

1 - Working at the VUB

For more than 50 years, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has stood for freedom, equality and solidarity, and this is very much alive on our campuses among students and staff alike.

At the VUB, you will find a diverse collection of personalities: innovators pur sang, but above all people who are 100% their authentic selves. With some 4,000 employees, we are the largest Dutch-speaking employer, in the private sector, in Brussels; an international city with which we are only too happy to connect and where (around) our 4 campuses are located.

Add to this our principle of free research - in which self-reflection, a critical attitude and an open, creative mind around scientific and social issues are central - and you have a university that is fundamentally groundbreaking and pioneering in education and research. In short: the VUB all over again.

Moreover, the VUB is a member of EUTOPIA, an alliance of like-minded European universities, all ready to reinvent themselves.

Faculty of Engineering, Department Toegepaste natuurkunde en fotonica, Research Group Brussels Photonicsis looking for a PhD-student with a doctoral grant.

More concretely your work package, for the preparation of a doctorate, contains:

Your work will be an essential part of the RheoLub research project, funded by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO). The project aims to develop advanced experimental and modelling methods to better understand the behaviour of industrial lubricants under extreme operating conditions. Lubricants in gears, bearings and other mechanical systems can be exposed to very high pressures and temperatures, as well as high shear rates. Reliable measurements under such conditions are essential for the design of efficient, durable and electrified machinery, yet current measurement techniques have significant limitations.

Within RheoLub, the VUB team at Brussels Photonics - B-PHOT (www.b-phot.org ) will focus on the development of optical fibre sensing technologies. The objective is to develop and validate miniature fibre-optic sensors capable of measuring pressure and temperature in a new generation of ultra-high-pressure rheometers. The intended application is a slit-die rheometer cartridge in which optical fibres are integrated close to the lubricant flow channel. This will enable spatially resolved measurements of pressure and temperature profiles under extreme operating conditions.

As a PhD researcher, your work will specifically involve the following activities:

• Designing and numerically evaluating strategies for integrating optical fibre sensors into high-pressure environments, taking into account parameters such as fibre type, coating, groove geometry, embedding depth, bonding layer and host material.
• Developing and integrating arrays of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors in standard single-mode and/or microstructured optical fibres for spatially resolved pressure and temperature measurements.
  Investigating pressure-sensitive fibre concepts, including the Butterfly microstructured optical fibre developed at VUB, as well as sensing approaches based on birefringence.
• Experimentally calibrating the developed sensors in dedicated high-pressure test setups, including the analysis of pressure and temperature cross-sensitivity.
• Developing methods for processing spectral measurement data, including Bragg peak tracking, peak-shape analysis, analysis of birefringence-induced peak splitting, temperature compensation, and the conversion of strain into pressure.
• Integrating and validating the optical fibre sensors in close collaboration with the project partners at Ghent University, who are responsible for developing the rheometer cartridge, thin-film sensors as a reference technology, and methods for extracting material properties based on digital twins.
• Communicating research results through scientific publications, project meetings and international conferences.

Depending on your profile, the position may, in addition to the research activities, involve a limited amount of teaching-related duties, such as supervising practical sessions and exercise classes and/or su