# From Lab to Laser: How Eindhoven Helped Build the Foundation of Quantum Technology

**Source**: https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/23-03-2026-from-lab-to-laser-how-eindhoven-helped-build-the-foundation-of-quantum-technology
**Parent**: https://www.tue.nl/en/research

Share

[Twitter](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tue.nl%2Fen%2Fnews-and-events%2Fnews-overview%2F23-03-2026-from-lab-to-laser-how-eindhoven-helped-build-the-foundation-of-quantum-technology)
[Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tue.nl%2Fen%2Fnews-and-events%2Fnews-overview%2F23-03-2026-from-lab-to-laser-how-eindhoven-helped-build-the-foundation-of-quantum-technology)
[LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tue.nl%2Fen%2Fnews-and-events%2Fnews-overview%2F23-03-2026-from-lab-to-laser-how-eindhoven-helped-build-the-foundation-of-quantum-technology)

Series: Celebrating 100 years of Quantum

# From Lab to Laser: How Eindhoven Helped Build the Foundation of Quantum Technology

March 23, 2026

A look at how Philips, Eindhoven, and generations of semiconductor engineers turned quantum physics into manufacturable technology.

Photo: LaserScientist.com

**Quantum technology is often described in terms of the future: computers cracking impossible problems, sensors of breathtaking precision, communication networks that cannot be intercepted. But it is already being built, and much of it depends on a device that has been quietly transforming our world for decades: the semiconductor laser. Its story runs directly through Eindhoven and Philips Research. As we celebrate 100 years of quantum physics, it is a story worth telling.**

### **What is a Semiconductor Laser and Why Does It Matter for Quantum?**

A laser is, at its heart, a quantum device - its operation rooted in the same principles that fascinated physicists a century ago: electrons can only occupy specific energy levels, and light is emitted when one jumps from higher to lower. Semiconductor lasers engineer this at the level of crystal structures. By growing ultra-thin layers of different materials on top of each other — a process called *epitaxy* — engineers precisely control those energy levels, producing a pure, coherent beam of light with extraordinary efficiency. Today these lasers are everywhere: in broadband connections, medical diagnostics, and industrial manufacturing. And increasingly, they are the enabling technology for the quantum revolution: quantum communication, atomic clocks, precision sensing, and photonic quantum computing.

### **Philips and the Manufacturing Breakthrough**

Brilliant science rarely becomes transformative technology on its own. The bridge is engineering, and specifically the essential craft of manufacturing at scale. The critical challenge was epitaxy: growing flawless crystalline layers, just atoms thick, across an entire wafer, consistently, time after time. Philips Research teams co-developed a breakthrough solution: the Planetary Reactor, a novel design enabling uniform, high-quality epitaxial growth across multiple wafers simultaneously.

This technology was licensed to [AIXTRON](https://www.aixtron.com/en) and the resulting AIXTRON AIX-2000 reactor became a global workhorse for III–V semiconductor growth and a cornerstone of the Dutch photonics ecosystem. It was on this platform that Peter Thijs grew his Indium Phosphide (InP) laser structures at [Philips](https://www.philips.com/), right here in Eindhoven. It supported multiple generations of epitaxy engineers, first at Philips Lighting and later across the emerging Dutch InP foundry landscape.

### Tacit Knowledge and Industrial Continuity

There is knowledge that does not appear in papers or patents. It lives in people: in the instinct of an engineer who senses a reactor drifting before instruments confirm it, in process recipes refined through thousands of growth runs, in the discipline of training the next generation. Academics call it *tacit knowledge*. In semiconductor manufacturing, it is as valuable as the equipment itself. One of Philips' lasting contributions was preserving it. The manufacturing DNA that Philips cultivated — process discipline, yield optimization, equipment calibration — still lives on today through people and organizations, carrying forward an industrial heritage in the Netherlands.

### Scaling Up for Quantum

An example in the Brainport region is [SMART Photonics](https://smartphotonics.nl/), where AIXTRON MOVPE platforms — tracing their lineage directly to the Philips Planetary Reactor — remain the backbone of epitaxial growth services. The company has already transitioned to a 4-inch wafer manufacturing line — doubling throughput — and is actively pursuing 6-inch wafer capability. Larger wafers mean more devices per growth run, lower cost per chip, and critically, the volume needed to meet quantum technology demand at industrial scale.

**Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)** has been a consistent source of trained epitaxy engineers, photonics researchers, and technology entrepreneurs who populate this ecosystem. Knowledge flows in both directions: university research feeds directly into engineering and manufacturing processes, while industrial challenges inspire new research directions.  TU/e underpins this ecosystem across three areas: research, infrastructure, and people. [Paul Koenraad, TU/e Emeritus Professor](https://research.tue.nl/en/persons/paul-m-koenraad/), has worked on atomic-scale characterization of III–V nanostructures — resolving indium distributions and growth defects that govern device yield feeding directly into the process understanding that epitaxy engineers depend on. The [Photonic Integration research](https://www.tue.nl/en/research/research-groups/photonic-integration) group at TU/e has pioneered work on standardized indium phosphide photonic integrated circuits and quantum well lasers, that crossed into industry through the spinoff SMART Photonics.

TU/e's collaboration with AIXTRON continues today with the co-development of the Next Gen 2800G4 Planetary Reactor, now installed in [NanoLabTUe](https://www.tue.nl/en/research/research-groups/nanolabtue/nanolabtue). This collaboration triangle — university, equipment vendor, and foundry — traces directly back to Philips, and continues today within the [PhotonDelta](https://www.photondelta.com/) €1.1 billion ecosystem, where the engineers running these reactors were trained at TU/e first.

> ***“Impact is not only measured in papers — but in reactors, wafers, yield curves, and the people who learn to make devices reproducibly, generation after generation.”***

Professor Chigo Okonkwo, TU/e \

### Semiconductor Lasers at the Heart of Quantum

The quantum applications accelerating across industry and government share a common thread: they all require light, precisely controlled and reliably generated. Across quantum communication, precision sensing, and photonic integration, the semiconductor laser is the critical enabling layer. The differentiator is not just the physics, it is the ability to turn quantum effects into reliable, repeatable manufacturing.

This is why Eindhoven's manufacturing legacy matters. The gap between a laboratory quantum technology and one deployed in the world is bridged by people who turn a design into a device, a device into a product, and a product into a supply chain.

### One Hundred Years of Quantum: Science That Scales

Marking 100 years of quantum physics, we celebrate the insights of Heisenberg, Einstein, and Bohr. But the past century is equally an occasion to honor what came next: the engineers and organizations such as TU/e that preserve and build on that knowledge.

Celebrating 100 Years of Quantum

As we celebrate 100 Years of Quantum, the semiconductor laser story is a reminder that **foundational science only achieves its full impact when it is paired with the engineering discipline and organizational know-how needed to manufacture it reliably — at scale, in volume, and across generations**. Eindhoven has been doing exactly that and will continue to do so for centuries to come.

*This article is part of a series Celebrating 100 Years of Quantum. The Casimir Institute highlights several important discoveries over the past century. For more information, visit the* [*100 Years of Quantum timeline page*](https://www.tue.nl/en/research/institutes/casimir-institute/quantum-timeline)*.*

**Sources:**

- [TU/e Photonics and Semiconductor Nanophysics](https://www.tue.nl/en/research/research-groups/photonics-and-semiconductor-nanophysics)
- [TU/e’s research Photonics and Semiconductor Nanophysics](https://research.tue.nl/en/organisations/photonics-and-semiconductor-nanophysics/)
- [TU/e’s indium phosphide integrated circuits and quantum well lasers](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0268-1242/29/8/083001)

## Other quantum campaign articles

[Series: Celebrating 100 years of Quantum

### The Casimir Effect: How Empty Space Proved Quantum Reality

The quantum world is fundamentally fuzzy. When we dive into the world of atoms and particles, certainty dissolves into waves of possibility.…](https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/09-12-2025-the-casimir-effect-how-empty-space-proved-quantum-reality)

- 1

About the Casimir Institute

## About The Casimir Institute

**Bridging future chips and high-tech systems through deep integration of design, equipment, materials, processes and foundational technologies. With our interdisciplinary approach, we accelerate sustainable chips and high-tech systems innovation from research to impact.**

The Casimir Institute is a merger from Eindhoven Hendrik Casimir Institute (EHCI), High Tech Systems Center (HTSC) and Future Chips Flagship (FCF) and officially launched end September 2025. Our combined activities enable us to effectively concentrate on research and education for future chips and high-tech systems.

- [Read more](https://www.tue.nl/en/research/institutes/casimir-institute?_gl=1*1w01ozj*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTgyNzA2MzU2NS4xNzY0NzkzMjA0*_ga_JN37M497TT*czE3NjQ3OTMyMDQkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjQ3OTMyMDQkajYwJGwwJGgw)

## More about Quantum

[March 23, 2026

From Lab to Laser: How Eindhoven Helped Build the Foundation of Quantum Technology

A look at how Philips, Eindhoven, and generations of semiconductor engineers turned quantum physics into manufacturable technology.

Read more](https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/23-03-2026-from-lab-to-laser-how-eindhoven-helped-build-the-foundation-of-quantum-technology)
[February 2, 2026

The missing link to computing at the speed of light

Grant funding has been awarded to push beyond the limits of silicon processors by building a critical missing component for next-generation, light-based...

Read more](https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/02-02-2026-the-missing-link-to-computing-at-the-speed-of-light)

More news

[Unraveling the complexity of strongly correlated quantum systems

December 19, 2025](https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/19-12-2025-unraveling-the-complexity-of-strongly-correlated-quantum-systems)
[Optimizing quantum algorithms for neutral atom computers

December 12, 2025](https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/12-12-2025-optimizing-quantum-algorithms-for-neutral-atom-computers)
[The Casimir Effect: How Empty Space Proved Quantum Reality

December 9, 2025](https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/09-12-2025-the-casimir-effect-how-empty-space-proved-quantum-reality)
['Protecting our society through the power of fundamental research'

November 12, 2025](https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/12-11-2025-protecting-our-society-through-the-power-of-fundamental-research)

- [RSS](https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/23-03-2026-from-lab-to-laser-how-eindhoven-helped-build-the-foundation-of-quantum-technology?type=150)