The WEIR Group is a global leader in providing products and services that enhance efficiency, reliability, sustainability and safety in the extraction and processing of natural resources. These products experience harsh operating environments including high pressures, extreme wear & abrasion, and gigacycle fatigue regimes. Digitisation that can facilitate design-by-analysis of next generation components and optimisation of performance for current technology is essential to enable sustainable minerals extraction. Currently, the WEIR group offers a number of commercial digital solutions that use real-time data gathering to make informed decisions, boost operational efficiency with predictive monitoring and embrace cutting-edge automation. Quantum sensing offers the opportunity to gather data with enhanced precision that will improve the accuracy of current predictive tools such as AI or digital twins.

This project will investigate the use of quantum photonic sensors for harsh environments in minerals processing. The inherent durability and abrasion resistance of Silicon Carbide (SiC) makes it an ideal candidate for deployment into these environments, uniquely coupled to its maturity in wafer-scale microfabrication processing and ability to host colour centres with single photon emission and strong spin-photonic interfacing. Colour centres such as silicon vacancies and PL5-7 centres can be addressed at elevated temperatures through, for example, optically-detected magnetic resonance measurements to sense temperatures, magnetic fields and mechanical effects like material strain with high resolution and precision. As a wide-bandgap semiconductor, microelectronic and MEMS devices can be engineered on-chip to provide integrated control and monitoring capabilities of the quantum sensor. Further, the emerging quantum-grade SiC-on-insulator chip platform could provide an avenue for developing photonic integrated circuits to more effectively excite and read out sensors based on individual or small ensembles of colour centres.

Building upon the work of Dr. Bekker and Dr. Rossi in the field of SiC-based quantum devices, this project will aim to explore the use of SiC quantum microsensors utilising spintronic and/or optomechanical modalities for harsh environments in minerals processing. In pipelines and pumps this could be measurements of flow rate, slurry rheology, and pressure. For extreme operating regimes, as experienced by vibrating screens, SiC sensors could enable resonance measurements for adaptable smart screening or structural health monitoring. Imaging applications could be utilised across technology groups and stages of minerals processing to measure accurate real-time particle size distributions thus leading to improved performance data.

The PhD student will work closely with the business to identify the most impactful case study for the application of quantum photonic sensors. WEIR will provide guidance and access to current methods and equipment to aid the student in development of the quantum sensing technology. The student will develop and optimise a quantum device based on the identified case study, including involvement in device design and simulation; manufacture and fabrication; and testing and operational validation. The candidate will work within experimental laboratories and cleanrooms at Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde, and interface with WEIR through the Weir Advanced Research Centre located at Strathclyde.