Mar 11, 2026
3 min read
In a groundbreaking leap in photonics and optical engineering, a team of researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has unveiled a revolutionary microscopic 3D-printed optical device that could dramatically change the landscape of high-power laser systems and fiber optic communications.
In a major step for photonics and optical engineering, a research team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has unveiled a revolutionary microscopic 3D printed optical device capable of profoundly changing the world of high-power laser systems and fiber optic communications.The invention focuses on the efficient and coherent combination of light emitted from lasers and surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) into multimode optical fibers, achieving unprecedented scalability and minimal optical loss.This new approach promises to overcome the ongoing challenges of technology integration and power delivery and system optimization in photonic applications.Setting a new standard for
At the heart of this success is the creation and implementation of what scientists call the multi-photon lamp (MM PL). This device has been carefully designed using advanced 3D printing techniques at a small scale.Photonic lamps traditionally act as optical interfaces that combine multiple single-mode inputs into a single multimode waveguide.However, this new "N-MM PL" design uniquely accommodates multiple multimode VCSEL sources simultaneously, fundamentally redefining the operating model of photonic lamps.Unlike its predecessors, these lamps effectively have dozens of multimode laser outputs while maintaining brightness and ensuring very good coordination to multimode fibers.
On the practical side, the team demonstrated a remarkable photonic flashlight variant that can integrate light from 7, 19 or even 37 individual VCSEL sources.Each VCSEL exhibits a complex spatial mode structure that fires the laser in six spatial modes, effectively supporting up to 222 spatial modes in a single multimode fiber.This large-scale multiplexing outperforms existing methods in both scale and efficiency and allows for a much more focused laser without the typical penalties due to alignment complexity or modal mismatch.It represents a tremendous advance in the optical multiplexing capability that makes arrays possible.
Its structure relies on the precision of 3D nanoprinting, allowing the production of devices less than half a millimeter in length – a significant cost reduction compared to the usual high cost of integrated inserts.This integration offers no performance; instead, it offers very low losses, as low as -0.6 dB for the 19-input lantern and -0.8 dB for the 37-input system.This directly translates into high power delivery and cost efficiency in applications based on industrial lasers, medical lasers and advanced telecommunications.
Significant challenges of previous optical beam combining technologies stem from their combining inefficiencies and their inability to handle multimode beams generated from high-power VCSEL arrays.Conventional optical lanterns were inherently single-mode and incompatible with the multimode nature of these VCSEL sources.The Hebrew University research team ingeniously designed an insulating transition in a lantern structure.This allows the output of multiple minority-mode lasers to be converted seamlessly and with minimal loss into a single multimode fiber.This method preserves the modal richness and brightness of the combined beam, avoiding performance degradation typically associated with relay lenses or other beam forming techniques.
The results of this research reach the depth of optical communication, where saving modal power and brightness is important for improving data flow and reducing transmission loss.In fact, by using highly scalable, integrated, and efficient photonic lighting, fiber networks can achieve greatly improved performance without complex hardware.In addition, the technology introduces a new system of powerful lasers, where controlling the temperature and the quality of radiation is a difficult obstacle at the same time.The ability of this lamp to combine multiple sources of high power without sacrificing optical integrity is poised to open new opportunities in industry and research.
This development is the product of a valuable collaboration between the Hebrew University, Civan Lasers, and financial support from the Israel Innovation Authority.The principal Ph.D.student Yoav Dana under the advice of Professor Dan M. Marom, a project crystallizes years of development and integrated optics, laser physics, and pride in manufacturing.The technical expertise allows for the combination of conceptual design and experimental testing, which resulted in a display device whose length is only 470 micrometers—a standard that few optical probes can match.
From a technical point of view, device operation depends on accurate mode matching between multimode inputs and multimode output fiber.Each VCSEL array emits beams containing multiple spatial modes, which are difficult to combine without loss of modal dispersion or brightness.The MM photonic lantern achieves this by implementing an adiabatic taper geometry that gradually transforms the distributions of the spatial modes, thereby maintaining spatial coherence and brightness, as these modes are finely channeled into a fiber that supports all of these parallel-channel modes simultaneously.
This compact lantern also significantly relaxes the alignment accuracy required specifically for splicing multimode beams into fibers.The complex 3D printed waveguide internally redistributes optical paths with nanometer precision, easing the complexity of system integration while increasing robustness to environmental disturbances – a crucial feature for real-world deployments in industrial and communications systems.exposed to mechanical and thermal stress.
The importance of this achievement lies not only in its size or compactness, but also in its practical applicability.By providing a path to spatially multiplexed multimode lasers with minimal insertion loss and higher brightness, this research paves the way for high-brightness scalable laser arrays suitable for next-generation lasers, aerospace optical systems, and high-capacity secure fiber-optic networks.The ability to fabricate lanterns as a universal interface between multimode semiconductor lasers and optical fibers is a paradigm shift in photonic system design.
In anticipation, the future adaptation of this technology can make laser systems very serious, increasing the power of integrated optics through fiber networks.Such scalability makes this innovation future-proof, accepting the ongoing process of miniaturization and integration in photonics.Whether used to increase the bandwidth of fiber optic communication or to improve the efficiency of the laser, the multimode photonic lantern of 3D printing demonstrates the integration of manufacturing processes using deep optical design principles.
In summary, the Hebrew University research team presented a transformative solution to a long-standing photonics challenge: combining the output of multiple multimode VCSELs in a single fiber with minimal loss and enhanced brightness.Microscale 3D printed multimode photonics lamps break new ground in terms of scalability, efficiency and compactness and promise broad implications in scientific and industrial photonics.The work shows that it is the power of advanced manufacturing to redefine optical technology for the next wave of interdisciplinary collaboration and manufacturing.
Research Object: Not applicable
Article title: Multi-space multiplexing of multi-mode VCSELs in a 3D printed photonic lantern
News publication date: 10-3-2026
Web reference: 10.1038/s41467-026-70458-4
Photo Credits: Ksenia Shukhin
Photonics, optical materials, optical fiber, laser systems, physics
Tags: 3D Printed Photonic Lamps Advanced Microscale 3D Printing in Optics Luminosity Preservation in Multimode Lasers High Power Laser Systems Miniaturization Multimode fiber optic coupling Multimode photonic lamp technology Multimode VCSEL Communication Innovations in fiber machine photonics devices Scalable Photonics Special
