MIT Researchers Develop Photonic "Ski Jump" Chips to Efficiently Beam Laser Light Into Free Space

MIT researchers develop a scalable photonic chip with "ski jump" structures to project laser beams, advancing quantum computing and AR displays.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 13, 2026, 7:36 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Bridging the Gap Between On-Chip Waveguides and Free Space

Photonic chips, which utilize light rather than electricity to process data, have traditionally struggled with a significant bottleneck: the efficient transmission of light from internal optical wires to the external environment. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have addressed this challenge by developing a new platform that allows for the rapid and precise broadcasting of light. By enabling laser beams to exit the confines of on-chip wiring, this technology facilitates direct interaction with the physical world. According to Henry Wen, a visiting research scientist at MIT, this platform can create thousands of individually controllable beams in a single shot, effectively interfacing two previously isolated optical domains.

The Mechanics of Microscopic Photonic Ski Jumps

The innovation relies on a series of microscopic structures that curl upward off the surface of the chip, resembling tiny, glowing ski jumps. These structures are fabricated using a dual-layer technique involving silicon nitride and aluminum nitride. Because these materials expand and contract at different rates during the cooling process, the resulting strain causes the structures to curve naturally. This thermal-mechanical effect is similar to the mechanism found in traditional thermostats. This specialized geometry allows light traveling through waveguides to be funneled upward and projected outward, bypassing the limitations of flat, surface-level emitters.

Scalable Control for Large Scale Quantum Computing

The development of these photonic ski jumps was driven by the Quantum Moonshot Program, a collaborative effort aimed at controlling diamond-based qubits. Current quantum systems require a way to interact with millions of qubits simultaneously, a task that exceeds the capacity of existing light-steering methods. The MIT platform functions like a high-precision "T-shirt gun," capable of firing laser beams across a large area to manipulate qubits with extreme accuracy. By integrating thousands of these emitters on a single chip, the researchers have created a roadmap for scaling quantum computers to a level where they can perform complex, real-world calculations.