Femto Chip
EPFL researchers shrank a femtosecond laser from an optical table to a chip the size of a Swiss franc coin — using a Mamyshev oscillator to generate 147-femtosecond pulses with 1.05 nJ of energy. Published in Nature, June 2026.
pulse circulates at 6.7 MHz rep. rate
Pulse Energy
1.05 nJ
nanojoules
Pulse Duration
147 fs
femtoseconds
Peak Power
~7.1 kW
instantaneous watts
Chip Area
≈ 1 mm²
silicon nitride photonics
Mamyshev oscillator · cavity schematic
integrated photonics · cycles every 7s
Mamyshev Oscillator · June 2026
EPFL researchers built a chip-scale Mamyshev oscillator that produces 1.05 nJ pulses in just 147 femtoseconds — the first integrated ultrafast laser matching table-top performance. "A Holy Grail of integrated photonics," said lead researcher Prof. Tobias Kippenberg.