A 3D-printed photonic device, developed in collaboration with Civan Lasers and published in Nature Communications, demonstrated coupling of up to 37 multimode lasers into a single fiber with low loss and an extremely compact structure.
New research from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem presents an impressive technological advance in the field of photonics: a microscopic, 3D-printed optical device that allows light from dozens of tiny lasers to be concentrated into a single optical fiber without paying a heavy price in light loss and beam quality. The article, published inNature Communications., was written under the leadership of research student Yoav Dana from the Institute of Applied Physics, under the supervision of Prof. Dan Marom, and in collaboration with researchers from Civan Lasers in Jerusalem.
The device is called Photonic Lantern, or “photonic flashlight,” and it is not a new idea. It is usually an optical component that converts several single-mode inputs into a single multi-mode waveguide. The problem is that powerful laser sources that are common in industry, especially VCSEL arrays, do not emit single-mode light but multi-mode. Therefore, classic photonic flashlights were not well suited to them. This is where the Jerusalem group’s innovation comes in: instead of adapting the world to the existing component, it designed a new architecture of Multi-mode photonic flashlight, which is capable of receiving many multi-mode sources and concentrating them directly onto a multi-mode fiber with appropriate multi-mode capacity.
In practice, the researchers have demonstrated three generations of the device: versions that incorporate 7, 19, and 37 multimode VCSEL lasers, with each laser contributing six spatial modes. This means that the largest system already has 222 spatial modes within a single fiber. This is a very unusual number for such a small structure, and it illustrates how useful this approach could be wherever high optical power needs to be transmitted through a fiber without getting involved in bulky arrays of lenses, mirrors, and fine alignment.
Very small, very effective
One of the most notable achievements of the research is its dimensions. According to the researchers, the entire device is less than half a millimeter short, which is orders of magnitude smaller than competing optical switching or coupling systems. Despite this, the losses remained very low: in the 19-input version, a coupling loss of about 0.6 dB was measured, and in the 37-input version, only about 0.8 dB. In terms of laser systems, this is a very important figure, because lower losses mean more power is transmitted, less heating, and less need for additional systems.
Another advantage is the preservation of thebrightness, that is, the brightness or quality of the beam relative to the power. In traditional systems, especially those based on lens arrays or coarse beam concentration, the multiplicity of sources can degrade the beam quality. Here, the researchers tried to pre-match the number of degrees of freedom of the laser sources to the optical capacitance of the fiber, thus preserving the quality of the light instead of just "squeezing" as many photons as possible in. This is a critical difference if the goal is not just to transmit light, but to transmit Useful light For laser, material processing, communication or sensing systems. (PubMed)
The structure itself was printed directly on a micron scale on the VCSEL chip, and then connected to the multimode fiber. This is another important component of the breakthrough: not only a new optical design, but also a manufacturing method that allows for direct and very dense integration between an electro-optical component and the waveguide. With such an approach, it is possible to imagine in the future prefabricated components, compact and cheaper to assemble, that would leave the factory already with an integrated optical interface instead of relying on sensitive and complicated mechanical alignment. (en-science.huji.ac.il)
Why is this important for the industry?
VCSEL arrays have great advantages: they are small, efficient, suitable for mass production, and are already common today in communications, sensing, and lighting and laser systems. The problem is that when you want to increase power, you very quickly move from a single source to large arrays, and then the coupling to the fiber becomes cumbersome. Therefore, the solution presented here may be especially important for high-power laser systems, in which many incoherent sources need to be bundled into a single fiber, without building a large and expensive optical system around them. The Hebrew University explicitly stated that the technology could improve powerful laser systems, optical communications, and other applications where efficient delivery of high optical power through a fiber is a critical condition.
The research also connects well with the Israeli industrial world. It was carried out in collaboration with Civan Lasers, a Jerusalem-based company that develops industrial lasers, and was supported by the Innovation Authority. This connection between applied physics, advanced manufacturing, and an industrial partner is no coincidence: if the technology does indeed move from the laboratory to the product, its first natural application is expected to be precisely in systems that combine many compact lasers to obtain high, stable, and more efficient power.
The bottom line is that this is not just another small and impressive optical component, but a conceptual change: it is possible to take dozens of multi-mode laser sources, which until now have been difficult to effectively concentrate, and connect them in a tiny, integrated, printed structure directly to a single fiber. If this direction matures into industrial technology, it could reduce complexity, shrink systems, and increase power in a wide range of photonic applications.
Article details:
Yoav Dana et al., Massive-scale spatial multiplexing of multimode VCSELs with a 3D-printed photonic lantern, Nature Communications (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-70458-4. (Nature)
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