Enschede, the Netherlands, September 29th, 2026 – SuperLight Photonics today announced a new approach to configuring its PIC-based wideband laser sources, complementing its existing portfolio of standard products, the new offering enables customers to specify the performance their application requires rather than selecting from a predefined set of product specifications.
Many photonics applications require a specific combination of bandwidth and output power. Standard laser sources may come close, but “close” is not always good enough when optical performance directly determines the resolution, sensitivity or throughput capabilities of an application.
SuperLight Photonics addresses this challenge by starting with the customer’s set of requirements. Using simulation-driven optimization, the engineering team explores the available performance space and identifies the optimal balance between bandwidth and output power for the specific application.
Unlike fiber-based approaches, a photonic chip offers significantly greater design freedom in controlling the supercontinuum generation process. SuperLight Photonics extends this flexibility through its patented Patterned Alternating Dispersion™ (PAD) technology. By engineering the properties of the photonic circuit, SuperLight Photonics can more precisely control how photons from the seed laser are converted and distributed across the spectrum, effectively directing optical power towards the wavelengths where the customer’s application needs it most.
From fixed specifications to the application sweet spot
Building on its standard product portfolio, SuperLight Photonics now offers an additional level of application-specific configuration, using simulations to determine the optimal balance between bandwidth and output power for a customer’s specific requirements and configuring the laser accordingly.
“Our customers increasingly come to us with requirements that do not fit neatly into a standard product specification,” said Jeroen Biesterbos, CCO at SuperLight Photonics. “They may need more bandwidth, a particular level of output power in a very specific range, or power in multiple ranges. The flexibility of our chip-based broadband generation allows us to configure the light source around the application, rather than asking the customer to adapt the application around the laser. This turns the conventional product-selection process around.”
“A photonic chip gives us more design freedom than conventional fiber-based approaches, allowing us to better control the wideband light generation process, and PAD takes that a step further,” said Jelmer Meuleman, Photonics Engineer & Lead Chip Designer at SuperLight Photonics. “This opens up a new level of application-specific control over the generated spectrum that cannot be achieved with conventional fiber-based wideband light sources.”
One technology platform, different performance requirements
SuperLight Photonics’ PIC-based wideband laser technology provides a flexible platform for applications including optical coherence tomography (OCT), spectroscopy, spectral imaging, interferometry and metrology. Each places different demands on the light source, making the optimum configuration application specific.
The simulation-driven approach allows SuperLight Photonics to evaluate these requirements before defining the laser configuration, reducing the dependency on fixed, off-the-shelf specifications.
About SuperLight Photonics
SuperLight Photonics, based in Enschede, the Netherlands, develops high-performance PIC-based wideband laser technology for advanced imaging, sensing and spectroscopy applications. Its compact, energy-efficient light sources combine wide spectral coverage with high brightness and low noise, enabling applications across medical imaging, industrial inspection, metrology, spectroscopy and scientific research.
SuperLight Photonics originated as a spin-out from the University of Twente, the Netherlands. Its technology is based on its patented PAD – Patterned Alternating Dispersion™ approach to generating wideband light on a photonic integrated circuit.