About

Photonics is widely recognized as a key enabling technology for many application areas such as optical communications, optical sensing, quantum key distribution and quantum computing. Within the broader area of this technology, photonic integration has a key role for the development of compact photonic integrated circuits (PICs) with large number of elements, stable operation, small footprint and low power consumption. There are however two critical issues for the design of high performance PICs and their use in practical systems:
1) The know-how required both at the component and the system level for the design of photonic elements and their combination in the form of large-scale circuits.
2) The availability of smart electronics to control the various photonic elements on-chip and coordinate their operation according to the specifics of each application.

Solution & Product

We work along the innovation chain of products based on PICs, offering design and prototyping services. In more detail:
1) We design micro- and nano-optical elements for PICs on various integration platforms including silicon photonics, silicon-nitride and optical polymers.
2) We develop system concepts and design PICs filling the gap between photonics at the component level and real world applications. Examples include designs of photonic integrated equalizers for optical communications, optical phased arrays (OPAs) for laser beam scanning, as well as carrier generation units and optical beamforming networks for mmWave and THz systems.
3) We develop control electronic units for PICs consisting of a smart digital part that runs the configuration algorithms according to the PIC design and application, and an analog part that drives the photonic elements in those PICs.

Apart from our service provision activity, we announced in the beginning of 2023 the release of our first commercial line of driving engines as standalone products. Those engines will be also used as building blocks inside our PIC control units that will come onto the market later in 2023.

Innovation & Scalability

The following assessment regarding the innovation and uniqueness of our value proposition can be made:
1) Design of optical structures for PICs: Our work is innovative in the sense that the structures we design are usually developed for the first time on the particular integration platforms or are at least developed for operation in new wavelength regimes.
2) Development of system concepts and system design of PICs: Our work is based on ideas outside the box. They are innovative and unique, and can lead to the generation of Intellectual Property (IP). Examples include our optical equalizer deisgn and our optical phased array (OPA) concept that have resulted in two discrete patent families.
3) Control electronic units for PICs: The uniqueness of our proposition value is associated both with the programmability of their digital part and the customization of their driving part. Compared to commercial solutions, our drivers are unique in terms of variation of driving parameters and channel counts, and thus able to meet the operation requirements of large-scale hybrid PICs.

Traction & achievements

2016-Oct:
Company foundation.
2017-Nov:
Move of company operations and lab to the Technology Park Lefkippos.
2018-Jan:
Start of our 1st EU project (http://ict-3peat.eu/). Funding: 205000 Euro.
2018-Oct:
National patent application on optical equalization filed (1st patent family).
2018:
International PCT application (WO2020089661A1) filed (1st patent family).
2019-Nov:
Start of our 2nd EU project (https://ict-teraway.eu/). Funding: 170000 Euro.
2020-Jan:
Start of our 3rd EU project (https://ict-teraway.eu/). Funding: 192205 Euro.
2021-Jan:
Registration of Optagon Photonics in the Greek national startup registry (Elevate Greece).
2021-May:
Entry into the European phase of our PCT application (1st patent family).
2022-Jan:
International PCT application on optical phased arrays (OPAs) filed (2nd patent family).
2022-Sep:
Start of our 4th EU project (https://horizon-de-lolipop.eu/). Funding: 287888 Euro.
2022-Sep:
Optagon Photonics becomes the first Greek member of Optica (formerly Optical Society of America).
2022-Oct:
Optagon Photonics is elected member of the Board of Stakeholders of the European Technology Platform Photonics21.
2023-Jan:
Optagon Photonics announces its first commercial line of driving engines for photonic integrated circuits.

Team & Why Us

Christos Kouloumentas:
Co-founder, Managing Director and Business Development Director
Diploma and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA)
Participation from leading positions in >12 R&D projects (880 citations, h-index=18)

Panagiotis Gkroumas:
Co-founder, Technical Director
B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Athens (UoA), PhD in ECE from NTUA
Participation from leading positions in >8 R&D projects (465 citations, h-index=13)

Nikolaos Baxevanakis:
Team member, expert in electronics Diploma in ECE from NTUA

Eleftherios Gounaridis:
External contractor, expert in Photonics
B.Sc. in Physics from UoA, PhD in ECE from the NTUA

Adam Raptakis:
External contractor, expert in Photonics and digital electronics
Diploma in ECE from NTUA and PhD candidate in ECE at NTUA

Meliza Mega:
Team member with secretarial duties

1 more external collaborator on digital electronics and programming

Funding Needs

Two ambitious internal projects on the development of smart photonic modules are ongoing based on proprietary system concepts and designs. The first one involves the use of optical equalization solutions in optical transceivers for Free-Space Optics (FSO) links, and it is based on our first patent family. The second one involves the use of a novel optical phased array (OPA) concept for active optical sensors with scanning capabilities without moving parts, and it is based on our second patent family.