Last week, we attended the European Conference on Integrated Optics (ECIO) in Zurich, Switzerland. We delivered four oral presentations and enjoyed the scientific and technical discussions at the conference.

• Akshay presented on Brillouin lasers on a foundry silicon nitride platform.
• Zheng demonstrated thermoelastic acousto-optic modulation in our in-house silicon nitride chips.
• Riley showed net-gain Brillouin amplification on double-stripe silicon nitride waveguides.
• Tarik discussed on-chip microwave phase shifters and time delays using stimulated Brillouin scattering.

Congratulations to everyone who contributed to these four excellent presentations!

On June 10th, Jitse Boonstra successfully defended his Master’s thesis: “Brillouin Lasing in Foundry Si₃N₄ Switchable Light Sources”.

In his work, Jitse demonstrated Brillouin lasers in programmable photonic molecules by effectively controlling their mode splitting. He also observed four-wave mixing and second- and third-harmonic generation effects in this platform.

We are very excited that Jitse will be staying with us to pursue his PhD at NLNP.

On June 3rd, Jeroen Klinkhamer successfully defended his Master’s thesis: “Stimulated Brillouin Lasing in Silicon Nitride Photonic Molecules”.

Jeroen successfully advanced existing waveguide capabilities by demonstrating a low-footprint, efficient Stimulated Brillouin laser specifically within tunable silicon nitride photonic molecules. This innovative approach establishes an essential new pathway for compact optical sources.

We are very happy that Jeroen will continue his research career in NLNP as a PhD student.

Last week, Chuangchuang and Tarik attended the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) in Charlotte, NC, USA.

The team presented two major research breakthroughs from our group. Chuangchuang introduced the first monolithic integration of a thin-film lithium niobate modulator with a Brillouin-active waveguide, creating a reconfigurable microwave photonic filter. Tarik then shared our progress on net-gain Brillouin amplifier and Brillouin dynamic gratings using a scalable silicon nitride platform.

Thank you for representing the group, Chuangchuang and Tarik!

We are excited to announce the launch of our new spin-off company, Temporal Photonics!

The company will focus on developing a compact, highly accurate and robust clock designed for long holdover times in a handheld system. Built on our years of experience in semiconductor processing and integrated photonics, this technology delivers reliable timing without the daily requirement of a GPS or GNSS signal.

We wish the team a successful path ahead!

We are pleased to share our latest research, “Surface acoustic wave Brillouin photonics on a silicon nitride chip,” published in Nature Photonics.

In this work, a collaboration between the University of Twente and McMaster University, we achieved strong stimulated Brillouin scattering on a standard silicon nitride platform by adding a thin layer of tellurium oxide. This approach increases the Brillouin gain by over 200 times while maintaining low losses.

Using this platform, we demonstrated a 5-dB net-gain Brillouin amplifier, a narrow-linewidth stimulated Brillouin laser, and an ultranarrow microwave filter. These results enable a wide range of high-performance radio-frequency and optical technologies to be integrated directly into compact silicon nitride chips.

Congrats, Yvan and the entire team!

David and Riley recently represented our group at the 5th International Workshop on Optomechanics and Brillouin-Mandelstam Scattering (WOMBAT) in Sydney, Australia.

David delivered an invited talk on Brillouin microwave photonics in scalable integration platforms, while Riley presented her work on net-gain Brillouin amplifiers and parametric light sources in double-stripe silicon nitride.

Thanks, David and Riley for representing the entire team!

Our group has been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) grant for Project SABER (Scalable Brillouin spectrum engineering in thin-film lithium niobate). In this project, we aim to achieve ultra-precise signal filtering for next-generation 6G communication using our in-house fabricated, thin-film lithium niobate-based photonic integrated circuits.

The work is also closely aligned with the strategic direction of Sabratha, our spin-off company.

Congratulations to the entire team!

Our group is part of the new European project, ULTRAPURE, funded by the EIC Pathfinder programme.

In this project, we will focus on developing ultra-low noise laser sources, which are critical for precise atomic clocks, next-generation communication networks, and quantum technologies.

Over the next three years, we will work with our partners: TU Braunschweig, Thales Research & Technology, University of Rennes, CSEM, and Modus Research.

Congratulations, David and the entire team!

We are excited to announce that our group’s spin-off company, Sabratha, officially launched last week!

The company will focus on developing high-speed modulators and unique optical and RF filters on thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonic integrated circuits. This venture marks an exciting step in translating our cutting-edge academic research into commercial products that address the growing demand for high-performance photonics.

We wish the team a successful path ahead!