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Frequency-agile integrated photonic light sources across the visible and near-infrared spectrum

Project description

Laser innovation to target outdated technology

In today’s tech landscape, lasers reign supreme, yet their potential is hindered by outdated designs. Many commercially available lasers are bulky, expensive relics, incapable of meeting the demands of modern applications. Most importantly, they lack the agility and precision required for tasks ranging from medical diagnostics to quantum technologies. In this context, the EIC-funded AgiLight project will pioneer integrated lasers spanning the blue to infrared spectrum. Using cutting-edge hybrid platforms and 3D printing, it promises power, precision, and unprecedented agility. With partners spanning academia and industry, AgiLight aims to reshape fields from atomic physics to distance sensing.

Objective

Lasers are ubiquitous in science and technology, with applications ranging from optical communications and quantum technologies to metrology and sensing and to life sciences and medical diagnostics. However, most commercially used lasers are still based on legacy optical schemes. These devices are either bulky and expensive limiting product development, or lack the ability to quickly sweep or precisely control the laser wavelength, which is key to many applications. At the same time, the advent of advanced photonic integration platforms such as silicon photonics has opened new perspectives, realized only for exascale data centers in telecommunication wavelengths around 1310 and 1550 nm.
AgiLight aims at establishing a new class of integrated lasers that can address the entire wavelength range from the blue (400 nm) to the infrared (2.7 µm). These devices rely on a hybrid integration platform that combines ultra-low-loss silicon nitride photonic circuits with advanced tuning actuators and with III-V gain elements, exploiting highly scalable assembly concepts based on 3D printing. The devices will offer high output powers (> 100 mW), down to Hz-level laser linewidths, and unprecedented frequency agility with nanosecond response times and wideband tunability. Comprising leading European research groups and high-tech start-ups as well as a major industrial player, AgiLight will translate ground-breaking research to rapid technology uptake and tailor laser systems for atomic and molecular physics and optics, distance ranging and sensing using the expertise of end-users. The project covers the theoretical and nanofabrication foundations of the envisaged light sources as well as their implementation and functional demonstration in highly relevant research applications throughout the visible and near-infrared spectrum. AgiLight will lay the foundation for an all-European value chain of a novel class of light sources, covering the III-V and low-loss PICs.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC Grants

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-EIC-2023-PATHFINDEROPEN-01

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Coordinator

THALES
Net EU contribution
€ 849 352,50
Address
4 RUE DE LA VERRERIE
92190 MEUDON
France
Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Hauts-de-Seine
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost
€ 849 352,50

Participants (5)

Partners (2)