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VUB B-PHOT installs femtosecond laser writing system for Intererg NWE photonics pilot line

05-12-2018

The Open-Innovation Photonics pilot for North West Europe (OIP4NWE) aims to drastically reduce high R&D costs and time for SMEs in the field of photonics. A significant decrease of the defect rate in pilot production and a shorter throughput time can help establish a thousand integrated firms within a decade.

The role of VUB B-PHOT in this €13.9m project is twofold. First, we will set up a voucher scheme that will provide SMEs access to the pilot line to allow them to scale up their production.

Secondly, B-PHOT is responsible for interfacing the Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) with the outside world using external optics for beam shaping and light coupling.

At its Photonics Innovation Center, VUB B-PHOT will install a state-of-the-art femtosecond laser writing system which enables the fabrication of mechanical features, optical components as well as microfluidic components in glass with a sub-micrometer resolution.

With the femtosecond laser writing system we can create optical benches in which the PICs can be placed with high accuracy with respect to optical fibre alignment features such as V-grooves. Also micro-optical components such as refractive microlenses or diffractive optical elements can be monolithically integrated into the glass optical bench or assembled hybridly with the optical bench. This will strongly improve the performance and robustness of the PIC packages for photonic chips.

For more information, please contact Jurgen Van Erps

The full version of the Interreg press release in English if available for

Download
Kickoff_Interreg_OIP4NWE_UK.pdf (2.76 MB)

The first newsletter of the project has now been published and is available here:

Download
OPI4NWE_Newsletter_April2019 (1).pdf (292.68 kB)