Brightlight Photonics develops compact lasers for precision instrument makers
Brightlight Photonics is building a business around a smaller way to make precise light. Its chip-scale sapphire lasers and custom photonic components are intended for instruments in fields including quantum technology, measurement and biomedicine.
From a table of optics to a chip
The Cambridge, Massachusetts, company lists lasers and amplifiers made from thin films of titanium-doped sapphire. It also offers custom visible and ultraviolet photonic devices, from bare chips to components connected to optical fibers.
That range gives instrument developers a choice between working with a chip and incorporating a device already interfaced with fiber. If the technology meets their needs, it could fit into equipment where a full tabletop laser setup is awkward to integrate.
Turning research into components
Titanium-sapphire lasers can produce light across a wide range of wavelengths, making them useful in research. Conventional systems, however, can occupy bulky optical tables and be difficult to integrate into other equipment, according to Stanford’s technology licensing office.
Stanford says its researchers developed a chip-scale design using a tiny channel, or waveguide, etched into titanium-doped sapphire. led the design as a graduate student and is now Brightlight’s CEO and co-founder. The university says technology in the design was licensed to Brightlight.