Descripción del proyecto
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.