A microscopic laser made from neodymium and lithium has been integrated directly onto a computer chip, and it can pulse itself automatically.
April 29, 2026
Original Paper
On-Chip Neodymium-Doped Lithium Niobate Microdisk Laser with Self-Induced Pulsing
arXiv · 2604.22397
The Takeaway
Traditional lasers are usually separate components that have to be carefully aligned with silicon chips. This new microdisk laser is built right into the material of the chip itself. It uses neodymium to provide the light and lithium niobate to control it, allowing for very high-speed signaling. The laser even pulses on its own without needing an external trigger. This is a huge step toward light-based computers that process information significantly faster than current electronic ones.
From the abstract
Rare-earth-doped materials constitute the foundation of conventional solid-state lasers, but their bulk-crystal form is inherently incompatible with photonic integration, making it challenging to realize compact, high performance nanoscale laser sources. Lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI), with its exceptional electro-optic and nonlinear optical properties, has emerged as one of the most promising platforms for integrated photonics. Combining Nd3+ doping with LNOI offers the unique possibility