LabCom Starlight+

PIs: Giorgio Santarelli (LP2N), Nick Traynor (TOPTICA).
Associated permanent members: Germain Guiraud (TOPTICA), Laure Chichet (TOPTICA).
The joint laboratory Starlight+ fosters together the skills of the French company TOPTICA Photonics SAS (TOPTICA Photonics SAS) specialized in high power fiber lasers and the Photonic Systems group at LP2N for advanced metrology. The target of this team is to tackle technological and fundamental challenges in low noise high power laser systems for industrial and scientific applications.

Graduate students&Postdocs&Engineers: Roopa Prakash (LP2N), Kentin Poncelet (TOPTICA), Coline Lavit (LP2N), Peyo Planche (TOPTICA), Thomas Dubé (LP2N), Thomas Chembero (LP2N).

Presentation

Starlight+ has been selected by the ANR LabCom Program (ANR LabCom) mid 2014 and started operations beginning of 2015.

After the 3 years initial phase the LabCom has enter in a consolidation phase (ANR LabCom consolidation 2017).

The LabCom is also strongly supported by the Conseil Régional Nouvelle Aquitaine and the cluster of excelence Laser& Photonics in Aquitaine (LAPHIA)

The LabCom capitalize on the rich environment for lasers & photonics in the Aquitaine region and the proximity of ALPhaNOV, the technology center of the ALPHA Rlh competitiveness cluster (Photonics & Microwaves French cluster) which supports innovation in laser &photonics.

Road Map

Stable light sources find applications in many aspects of fundamental research (laser cooling, atomic clocks, quantum computing, atom interfereometry…), but also in an ever increasing number of real-world applications (LIDAR, holography, industrial instrumentation, high resolution spectroscopy for pollutant detection,….), where fine control of amplitude, frequency and phase is extremely important.

This joint laboratory aims to the creation of a new class of stabilized fiber lasers exhibiting unparalleled power, frequency stability and wavelength agility. The scientific program is organized around three main research themes:

Study of laser noise properties and development of new stable laser systems based on MOPA fiber architectures in the spectral range from 900 – 2000 nm.
Development of systems for laser stabilization and frequency control, optimized specifically for fiber laser architectures.
Development of new architectures for agile lasers systems suitable for precise frequency sweeping in the visible and Deep Ultra Violet spectral regions using optimized resonant frequency conversion schemes.

Highlights

August 2025. The LabCom has demonstrated a Continuous wave tunable laser red orange laser based of frequency generation (R . Gu et al, 10.1364/OE.569986)

July 2025. The LabCom has demonstrated a 50 W low noise high power laser operating @1844nm based on Thulium doped fibers (K . Poncelet et al, 10.1364/OE.565573)

On July 3rd, 2025, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Starlight+ LabCom with a short symposium. The program included a visit to the LabCom facilities, followed by institutional presentations by Ch. Salomon, Chairman of the Board of Directors of IOGS; M. Faure, Head of Industry Relations and Joint Laboratories at CNRS; E. Duget, Vice President for Innovation at the University of Bordeaux; and N. Traynor, President of TOPTICA France. A brief history of the LabCom was presented by G. Santarelli. The event also featured a scientific session chaired by P. Giat, Head of the CIFRE Program at ANRT, with talks by former and current Ph.D. fellows of the LabCom G. Guirand, C. Dixneuf, and K. Poncelet and concluded with a special presentation by W. Kaenders, Founder and President of TOPTICA.

From June the 1^th 2025 Peyo Planche has joined the LabCom Team as PhD student in low noise Raman amplifiers for quantum applications in collaboration with TOPTICA PROJECTS.

From September the 1^th 2024 Thomas Chembero has joined the LabCom Team as work-study student (apprentice) in high power fiber laser development.

From September the 1^th 2024 Dr. Thomas Dubé has joined the LabCom Team as Post Doctoral fellow in high power fiber laser development for quantum applications.

From September the 1^th 2024 Dr. Roopa Prakash has joined the LabCom Team as Post Doctoral fellow in the framework of a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship in high power fiber laser development.

From January the 1^th 2024 Coline Lavit has joined the LabCom Team as research engineer in high power fiber laser development for quantum applications.

December 2023. The LabCom Team has demonstrated a low noise Neodymium laser-pumped Brillouin operating around 920nm (R. Prakash and al, 10.1364/OE.506410)

November 2023. Nick Traynor and Giorgio Santarelli represent Starlight+ at the event 10 years of LabComs organized by the ANR and located at Maison de la Chimie in Paris in Evenement Labcom 10 ans.

From June the 1^th 2023 Dr. Ruizhe Gu has joined the LabCom Team after completion of a Ph.D in ultrafast acoustic phonon pump probe spectroscopy at Université of Le Mans.

June 2023. We are enthusiasts to communicate that the Germany-based laser manufacturer TOPTICA Photonics AG has finalized the aquisition of the majority of the shares of our partner Azurlight Systems. Azurlight will continue and further foster its fiber laser business under the new name TOPTICA Photonics SAS.Toptica completes the-acquisition of Azurlight systems

From March the 1^th 2023 Kentin Poncelet has joined the LabCom Team as PhD. student in high power fiber laser investigation for quantum applications.