Demcon photonics committed to high-volume production of photonics

Demcon Photonics, a division of technology developer and manufacturer Demcon, focuses on high-volume production of photonic components. Its offering is based on direct laser writing: a technology that enables fast, accurate, and reliable alignment with minimal coupling loss. Demcon Photonics seeks to collaborate with machine builders and manufacturers of photonic products.

The precise alignment of groups of optical fibers on small chips is a major challenge in the production of photonic technology. Such a group of fibers, also known as a fiber array, consists of multiple thin glass fibers arranged side by side that collectively direct light toward a chip.

Precisely connecting these fibers to a chip is a time-consuming process. This makes it difficult to scale up production on a large scale. Furthermore, both the fibers and the chips can undergo slight deformation. As a result, they do not always align properly, leading to less accurate and reliable connections. The industry is therefore seeking new ways to connect fibers and chips more quickly and reliably.

Fast, accurate, and reliable alignment

Demcon Photonics views direct laser writing as a promising technology. This technology has been on the market for decades and has proven its potential in applications such as microfluidics and surface treatment.

Using extremely short laser pulses (femtoseconds), researchers can directly write tiny light paths into glass. These light paths connect the optical fibers to the chip and ensure that light is transmitted properly.

First, a camera and special software precisely measure the locations of the glass fiber ends and the connection points on the chip. The laser then writes the connections into the glass at the correct locations. This ensures that the fibers and the chip align accurately with one another. As a result, the production process becomes faster and more reliable, with minimal light loss.

Collaboration

The company brings together commercially available technology with the manufacturing capabilities of photonics product manufacturers. Thijs Kniknie, managing director of Demcon Photonics: “We seek close collaboration with such partners to develop our proposition into a proven, market-ready solution. On the one hand, these are the parties that want to scale up their direct laser write technology from the lab to the fab. Here, we can be the missing link between production technology pioneers and industrial-scale machine builders. On the other hand, we invite companies that want to bring their technology to the market as integrated photonics products and need the equipment for their production.”

Working on prototypes

The company is currently working on prototypes. Kniknie: Currently, we are working on prototypes, and we plan to present a demonstrator to prospective partners early 2027. Eventually, if we succeed, we can contribute to solutions that cater for the fast-growing global demand for photonics products that will revolutionize high-bandwidth, low-carbon-footprint network communication, high-performance computing, and other promising applications.”