Nanoscribe launches Quantum X align, a high-precision 3D printer enabling auto-aligned printing on optical fibers and photonic chips

Karlsruhe. The Quantum X align is the first 3D printer with advanced 3D alignment capabilities that enables the printing of freeform microoptical elements directly onto optical fibers and photonic chips, setting new standards in the design and fabrication of microoptical elements.

The Quantum X align is the first 3D printer with advanced 3D alignment capabilities within Nanoscribe’s disruptive Quantum X microfabrication platform. It is equipped with high-precision imaging modules to 3D map substrate topographies and to automatically align the structures to be printed in all spatial directions. This sets new standards in the design and fabrication of microoptical elements, which are automatically aligned to fiber tips, photonic chip edge couplers (EC), grating couplers (GC) and laser diode facets during the 3D printing process. Photonic packaging is streamlined and empowered with:

• Mode field adaptation at the component level instead of the chip level  
• An easy transfer of fiber arrays to Lensed Fiber Arrays (LFA) by printing the collimating or focusing optics on the tip of each fiber

Nano-precision alignment for on-fiber and on-chip printing

Quantum X align allows for automatic 3D fiber core detection and automatic tilt compensation to precisely print on fibers or fiber arrays. The Quantum X align printer’s central feature for printing on photonic chips is a confocal imaging module for 3D mapping of substrate topographies combined with a fully automated alignment to predefined markers or waveguides. Thus, Quantum X align makes it easy to 3D print freeform microoptics perfectly aligned onto the fiber core or attached to facets or waveguides on standard or customized optical chips. All in all, auto-aligned 3D printing significantly reduces complex chip-level mode field tuning, eliminates active alignment and enables novel and unprecedent use of freeform microoptics at optical interfaces.

About Nanoscribe

Nanoscribe is the pioneer and market leader in high-precision additive manufacturing. The medium-sized company produces 3D printers and grayscale lithography systems based on Two-Photon Polymerization (2PP), as well as dedicated resins and develops application-specific solutions for microfabrication on the nano-, micro- and mesoscale.

Founded in 2007 as a spin-off of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Nanoscribe has been part of the Lab14 Group since December 2024. The company holds more than 150 patents and licenses and employs over 100 people worldwide, with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and China. Its systems and solutions are used by thousands of active users and operators at leading universities, research facilities and innovative companies worldwide and have supported more than 2,100 peer-reviewed scientific publications.
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About Lab14 Group

Lab14 Group is a group of successful high-tech companies with complementary products and services for a wide range of applications that require demanding solutions for nano- and microfabrication and surface analysis. Lab14 is a subsidiary of RSBG SE and wholly owned by the RAG Foundation.
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Captions

Img. 1: Microscope image of a 3D-printed lensed fiber array (LFA). The microscope image clearly demonstrates how precise the optical projection of lensed fibers is. Here, green light is collimated into parallel light beams. Sample of the research project MiLiQuant.
Img. 2: SEM image of mode field shaping microoptics aligned and printed with submicron precision onto the facet of a photonic chip. Sample of the research project HandheldOCT.
Img. 3: Array of freeform microoptics aligned and printed on individual fibers in a v-groove fiber array to demonstrate the unlimited design freedom of Nanoscribe’s high-precision 3D printing technology.

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