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Published in Nature by researchers led by EPFL, the advancement integrates a laboratory-level ultrafast laser into a photonic chip, with 147 femtosecond pulses and energy of up to 1.05 nanojoule, reducing a technology previously associated with large and expensive systems
An ultrafast laser that previously required entire optical tables in a laboratory has been integrated into a photonic chip, with 147 femtosecond pulses and energy of up to 1.05 nanojoule.
Ultrafast laser leaves the laboratory and arrives on the chip
The advancement was reported in the journal Nature by researchers led by Professor Tobias J. Kippenberg from EPFL. The team claims to have developed the first integrated ultrafast laser capable of matching the performance of traditional femtosecond systems used on benches.
Ultrafast lasers produce light pulses lasting only a few hundred femtoseconds. Each femtosecond corresponds to one quadrillionth of a second, an essential scale for high-precision technologies.
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These pulses are used in precision manufacturing, eye surgery, and optical frequency combs. The latter technology, Nobel Prize-winning, supports some of the most precise optical atomic clocks in existence.
Despite their importance, these lasers remain associated with large and expensive equipment. Miniaturization on a photonic chip was considered a persistent challenge for more than two decades.
How the photonic chip manipulates light
Photonic chips control light through microscopic waveguides patterned on a wafer. The logic is similar to that of electronic chips, but instead of electrical currents, these structures direct light beams.
This platform is already used in telecommunications and has helped reduce the size of optical technologies previously dependent on larger equipment. The new device extends this trajectory by bringing a high-energy femtosecond laser to a very small area.
The laser cavity is 42 centimeters long but can be folded into a chip with an area approximately the size of a match head. The result is much smaller than conventional ultrafast systems based on fiber.
Little-used design solved part of the challenge
To enable the device, the team adopted the Mamyshev oscillator, a rarely used architecture. The cavity combines a nonlinear waveguide between two optical filters that select different parts of the light spectrum.
When a strong pulse passes through the guide, its spectrum broadens and allows part of the light to pass through the filters, continuing to circulate. The weaker light does not broaden enough and ends up being filtered out.
The design also reduces problems caused by nonlinear interactions in very small guides. This feature makes the architecture suitable for integrated photonic devices.
Possible uses of the new laser
As photonic chips can be manufactured at the wafer level, more than 1,000 laser cavities could come from a single batch, reducing costs and increasing access.
The technology can support sensing, spectroscopy, precision measurement, pollutant detection, defect identification in materials, medical diagnostics, and portable optical atomic clocks.
What do you think of this advancement? Comment if technologies of this type seem more important for medicine, industry, environment, or navigation, and share which applications of ultrafast lasers should receive priority in the coming years.
