Imagine replacing a bulky, hand-assembled laser system with a tiny chip that does the same job but better. It's like moving from a giant room-sized computer to a smartphone. This technology allows light to be tuned precisely, making sensors much more accurate at detecting things over long distances.
Current high-performance lasers are bulky, expensive, and hand-assembled, which prevents them from being scaled for mass-market use in autonomous vehicles and infrastructure monitoring.
A prototype of a frequency-agile, ultra-low noise laser based on silicon nitride photonic integrated circuits and MEMS actuators.
If you are a railway operator dealing with the high cost of manual track inspections — this project developed a chip-based laser for distributed fiber optic sensing that enables real-time predictive maintenance and increased safety.
If you are an autonomous vehicle manufacturer dealing with bulky and expensive 3D imaging hardware — this project developed frequency-agile lasers for FMCW LiDAR that provide high-resolution, long-range imaging in a scalable format.
If you are a telecom provider dealing with the limitations of legacy fiber laser systems — this project developed a silicon nitride photonic integrated circuit that offers better coherence and lower cost through wafer-scale manufacturing.
The project replaces hand-assembled bulk components with wafer-scale manufacturable photonic integrated circuits, which are designed to be low cost.
Yes, the technology is based on silicon photonics and MEMS, specifically aiming for wafer-scale manufacturing and automated assembly processes.
The platform is based on a patented approach that combines silicon nitride photonic integrated circuits with MEMS technology.
The lasers are designed as photonic integrated circuits (PICs) that can be seamlessly integrated into existing photonic and optical platforms.
The project runs from 2023-10-01 to 2026-09-30, with the goal of maturing a prototype for commercialization via SMEs and a dedicated startup.
The consortium is heavily industry-driven with an 80% industry ratio, consisting of 4 companies and 1 university across 4 countries. This structure, including 2 SMEs and a coordinator like Thales, indicates a strong push toward commercialization and industrial validation rather than pure academic research.
Contact Thales (FR) regarding the FORTE project and its photonic integrated circuit laser platform.
Contact us to connect with the FORTE consortium for early adoption of frequency-agile laser chips.
