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PHOTON IP, a manufacturer of advanced low-power optical chips, has raised €4.75 million ($4.85 million) in seed funding to accelerate the industrialization and commercialization of its technology. PHOTON IP's chip technology combines silicon photonics with active III-V materials and aims to address the limitations that existing schemes for photonic integration face in their inability to deliver necessary levels of performance and energy efficiency in a small footprint.
Founded in 2020, PHOTON IP has developed a method to efficiently combine silicon photonics with active III-V materials. Courtesy of PHOTON IP. The company is specifically targeting manufacturing process simplifications stemming from improving the way that silicon and...

In a step forward for stretchable, wearable technologies, researchers demonstrated a graphene-enabled laser lift-off (GLLO) technique that ensures smooth separation of thin film flexible displays during the manufacturing process. The technique could accelerate development of ultrathin, high-performance devices that fit comfortably against human skin.

The GLLO technique, which was developed at Seoul National University of Science and Technology (SeoulTech), takes advantage of the optical, thermal, adhesive, and geometrical properties of graphene to prevent damage to ultrathin displays. A graphene layer improves UV light absorption, distributes heat evenly, and reduces adhesion in the thin film. These factors serve to reduce plastic...

Thorlabs has acquired longtime collaborator Praevium Research, a developer of high-speed tunable VCSELs. As a division of Thorlabs, Praevium will continue to operate out of its current location in Calif. under the Praevium Research name, and will retain its current leadership with Christopher Burgner as its general manager and founder Vijay Jayaraman as a senior scientist. The company will additionally maintain its focus on the development of novel semiconductor lasers and detectors in partnership with the Thorlabs team in Jessup, Md.

Praevium Research has collaborated with Thorlabs since joining the Thorlabs Strategic Partner Program in 2008. Over the past 17 years, the companies have partnered on the development and...

Effective treatment of bone defects requires innovative materials that support bone regeneration, are easy to apply, and adapt easily to the defect site. Injectable hydrogels offer a minimally invasive solution, but often lack mechanical integrity and biological functionality. Traditional methods that combine bone grafts with adhesive materials often fail to achieve simultaneous bone regeneration and adhesion.

To help advance bone tissue engineering, a research team at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) developed an injectable, adhesive hydrogel that achieves photocrosslinking and mineralization simultaneously, without the need for bone grafts, when it is irradiated with light that is safe for the human body.

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Research hub imec has demonstrated the monolithic fabrication of electrically-driven gallium arsenide (GaAs)-based multi-quantum-well nano-ridge laser diodes on 300mm silicon wafers in its CMOS pilot prototyping line. Achieving room-temperature continuous-wave lasing with threshold currents as low as 5 mA and output powers exceeding 1 mW, the results demonstrate the potential of direct epitaxial growth of high-quality III-V materials on silicon.

According to imec, the work provides a pathway to the development of cost-effective, high-performance optical devices for applications in data communications, machine learning, and AI.

The lack of highly scalable, native CMOS-integrated light sources has been a major roadblock for the...

Ansys has entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of its PowerArtist business to Keysight Technologies, Inc., a developer of design and simulation software for semiconductors. PowerArtist is a comprehensive register-transfer level design-for-power platform used by semiconductor companies for early-stage power analysis, profiling, and reduction. Ansys and Synopsys determined that the sale of PowerArtist was necessary to obtain regulatory approval for Synopsys' proposed acquisition of Ansys, which is pending regulatory approvals and expected to close in the first half of 2025. Ansys entered into an agreement with Synopsys for its acquisition in January 2024 in a deal worth $35 billion.

VISTA, Calif. — Anatomic and digital...

The Consumer Electronics Show, the flagship event of the Consumer Technology Association, opened its doors Tuesday. The annual show, which showcases the latest innovations and developments in consumer technology, concludes today. Photonics Media has tracked this year’s product demonstrations, partnerships, and photonics industry news.

Aledia, a company specialized in 3D nanowire-based micro-LED technology, unveiled a $200 million state-of-the-art production line in Grenoble, France. The line utilizes semiconductor-grade silicon in 8-inch and 12-inch formats, lowering production costs for large-scale production of micro-LEDs. The company stated that it can support customer demand ramp up to nearly 5000 wafer starts per week.
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SPIE’s Awards Committee has named the recipients of its annual awards, recognizing achievements in photonics research, education, industry, and community leadership. The awards span a broad range of technical and professional areas, including medicine, astronomy, lithography, optical metrology, optical design, and community leadership.
2025 SPIE Gold Medal recipient Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop. Courtesy of SPIE.
Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop is the recipient of the 2025 SPIE Gold Medal for innovations in the transfer of optical angular momentum to matter, using sculpted light for laser manipulation on atomic, nano- and microscales, and providing a powerful probe to biomedicine.

The SPIE President’s Award was given to...

NVIDIA has established partnerships with Toyota, Aurora, and Continental in pursuit of autonomous driving for consumer and commercial markets. Toyota, Aurora, and Continental are building autonomous driving technologies based on NVIDIA’s DRIVE system-on-chip (SoC) platform.

Toyota will build its next-generation vehicles on NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin, running the safety-certified NVIDIA DriveOS operating system. Other mobility companies adopting NVIDIA DRIVE AGX for their next-generation advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous vehicle roadmaps include BYD, JLR, Li Auto, Lucid, Mercedes-Benz, NIO, Nuro, Rivian, Volvo Cars, Waabi, Wayve, Xiaomi, ZEEKR, and Zoox, among others.

Aurora, Continental, and NVIDIA also...

An advanced design for IR thermal technology, developed by researchers at National Taiwan University (NTU), takes advantage of the tunable optical properties of metallic glass to combine IR camouflage and IR thermal management functions in a single system. The system provides dual functionality for IR camouflage and IR thermal management within the same wavelength region of the atmospheric window.

A conventional, low-emissivity design approach to thermal camouflage is only useful for concealing targets at temperatures greater than 350 °C. It is not effective for applications that aim to reduce the ability to detect targets in the near-room to medium-high temperatures below the 350 °C range.

Also, given the typically high...

Physik Instrumente (PI) has appointed Beate van Loo-Born as CFO. Van Loo-Born brings over twenty years of international leadership experience across financial services and data technology sectors, spanning roles at UBS and the Swiss Stock Exchange.

Beate van Loo-Born. Courtesy of PI. GARBSEN, Germany — Provider of laser-based solutions LPKF Laser & Electronics SE has added Peter Mümmler as CFO on an initial contract term of three years, effective April 1. Mümmler experience includes 20 yearsin executive-level finance and strategic leadership roles — most recently serving as interim CFO and managing director at Heramba Plc.

Peter Mümmler. Courtesy of LPKF Laser & Electronics SE. CENTENNIAL, Colo....

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, has named 47 fellows of the society, comprising the organization’s class of 2025. Fellows are members of SPIE who have made significant scientific and technical contributions in the multidisciplinary fields of optics, photonics, and imaging. SPIE has honored nearly 1800 fellows since its inception in 1955.

Courtesy of SPIE. The 2025 class includes Martin Ettenberg, founder and CTO of Princeton Infrared Technologies; Darren Roblyer, a professor in Boston University’s biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering departments and editor-in-chief of Biophotonics Discovery; and Katie Schwertz, a senior manager at Edmund Optics, recipient of the 2024 SPIE...

Photonics Spectra, the leading publication dedicated to the photonics industry, is pleased to announce the appointment of Katie Schwertz to its Editorial Advisory Board. Schwertz's appointment, effective immediately, increases the number of Photonics Spectra Editorial Advisory Board members to 15 optics and photonics luminaries.

Schwertz is senior manager of optical assemblies and technology at Edmund Optics in Tucson, Arizona, where she is responsible for engineering partnership development and communication of advanced assemblies capabilities. She has nearly 15 years of applied industry experience in optical and optomechanical design.

Photonics Spectra Editorial Board member Katie Schwertz. Courtesy of Edmund Optics A 2025 SPIE...

A vibrational spectroscopy technique that uses what its developers are calling a "molecular lantern" aims to enable monitoring of the changes in the brain, at the molecular level, that are caused by cancer and other neurological pathologies in a noninvasive way. The technique, still in experimental stages, uses a probe that is <1 mm thick, with a tip of just 1 µm. Tests on animal models have enabled researchers to analyze any brain structure beyond those that have been already genetically marked or altered and see any molecular change in the brain when there is a pathology.

The work has been carried out by the European consortium NanoBright. Collaborators include a group at the Neuronal Circuits Laboratory of the Cajal...

Bright, twisted light can be produced with technology similar to an Edison light bulb, researchers at the University of Michigan have shown. The finding adds nuance to fundamental physics while offering a new avenue for robotic vision systems and other applications for light that traces out a helix in space.

“It’s hard to generate enough brightness when producing twisted light with traditional ways like electron or photon luminescence,” said Jun Lu, an adjunct research investigator in chemical engineering and first author of the study. “We gradually noticed that we actually have a very old way to generate these photons—not relying on photon and electron excitations, but like the bulb Edison...

A new photopyroelectric tweezer device (PPT), developed by a team at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, enables remote manipulation of objects made from diverse materials, with various geometries, and in different phases. The PPT is a flexible, adaptable object manipulation tool that could have broad use in robotics, biomedicine, and the physical sciences.

Optical tweezers often require a high-intensity laser beam, sophisticated electrode designs, additional electric sources, and low-conductive media, making them impractical for many applications. The PPT device, which combines optical capabilities with electric fields, uses a low-intensity, NIR light to produce a strong driving force...

Exail has acquired laser technology company Leukos, a company specializing in advanced laser sources for metrology, spectroscopy, and imaging applications. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Leukos will operate as a subsidiary of Exail, retaining its product portfolio and branding.

The acquisition combines Leukos’s advanced technologies, including pulsed micro-lasers, supercontinuum sources, and ultrafast fiber laser, with Exail’s expertise in specialty fibers, modulation, micro-optical assemblies, and quantum systems. The combination additionally expands Exail’s product offerings and solutions to address new markets, including biophotonics and microelectronics.

Exail is a high-tech...

Swave Photonics, a developer of holographic extended reality technology, has raised €27 million ($28.27 million) in a series A funding round. The investment is expected to expedite the development of Swave's holographic extended reality (HXR) platform for AI-powered AR smartglasses and head-up displays.

Swave’s diffractive optics-based HXR technology enables 3D high-resolution images that adapt to the user’s surroundings. The company’s DynamicDepth technology allows the images to be processed naturally by the human vision system, bypassing AR’s commonly faced challenges of focal depth and eye-tracking.
Swave Photonics introduced its Holographic eXtended Reality platform in April 2024. The technology is...

Monitoring electrical signals in biological systems helps scientists understand how cells communicate, which can aid in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions like arrhythmia and Alzheimer’s.

But devices that record electrical signals in cell cultures and other liquid environments often use wires to connect each electrode on the device to its respective amplifier. Because only so many wires can be connected to the device, this restricts the number of recording sites, limiting the information that can be collected from cells.

Researchers at MIT have developed a biosensing technique that eliminates the need for wires. Instead, tiny wireless antennas use light to detect minute electrical signals.

Small electrical...

As it relates to semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, miniaturization seems to have no limits. A simple examination of the components and even many of the finished devices fabricated in today’s manufacturing environments makes it easy to perceive this trend.

Yet despite the ubiquity of miniaturization in modern manufacturing, the processes and technologies necessary to fabricate nanostructures present dynamic challenges. Manufacturers supporting the semiconductor and consumer electronics industries have overcome many constraints on the road to sustainable miniaturization, or scaling, as it is known in the semiconductor industry.


Courtesy of iStock.com/Mick Koulavong.
One area of notable advancement is in...