The photonics industry is at a critical moment. Breakthrough innovations continue to emerge from research labs worldwide; however, a persistent gap remains between these promising technologies and their real-world applications. This is frustrating at best for innovators, and, at worst, risks limiting the potential of photonics across industries.
At Hamamatsu Photonics, the company's Pilot Line represents a comprehensive solution designed to bridge this gap and accelerate photonics adoption.
Andrey Voloshin, Senior Technologist and Pilot Line Leader, at Hamamatsu Photonics, explains the philosophy behind this approach: "We believe the main challenge in the photonics industry is that people focus too much on technologies and engineering. Instead, our community should also focus on real-life and user-centric applications that could be solved with photonics. Photonic technologies are just tools – we must apply them to make a difference for other industries and end users."
What is the Pilot Line scheme?
This philosophy underpins Hamamatsu's Pilot Line approach. Rather than viewing photonic technologies as ends in themselves, the company treats them as sophisticated tools designed to solve specific industrial and consumer challenges.
"We shouldn't only speak about challenges in the photonics community, but about the challenges of industrial or consumer communities," says Voloshin.
The Pilot Line scheme was born out of an obvious market need. Voloshin explains: "Throughout our company's journey, we have covered, with our expertise, almost the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from gamma and X-ray sources up to THz, in many cases on both the detection and emission sides. Our customers are very aware of this. They have started ordering the two core ingredients of a photonic module: components that emit light and components that detect light. They need these elements to build photonic modules that solve real-world applications."
With Pilot Line, the company can provide customers with solid expertise in photonic building blocks, light-emitting and light-detecting components, and most importantly, knowledge of combining them into photonic modules customised for specific applications.
"The main outcome of each Pilot Line project is a photonic module ready for volume production," Voloshin reveals. "We take care of the photonic performance and let our customers focus on the applications."
Going beyond proof of concept
Traditional pilot projects often end at the proof-of-concept stage, leaving innovators to navigate the journey from prototype to production on their own. Hamamatsu takes a different approach.
"In the case of Pilot Line, we go beyond the usual scope of well-known pilot projects," explains Voloshin. "Demonstrating proof of concept of a photonic module is just the first step for us and our customers. We then optimise the prototypes for mass manufacturing. The project is completed once production capabilities for the photonic module are ready to meet customer orders."
This end-to-end approach addresses one of the photonics industry's most persistent challenges: the technical complexities of scaling up. Many promising photonic ideas fail not due to a lack of innovation, but because teams underestimate technical complexities.
"With our service, they can feel confident that the photonics hardware is engineered and production-ready," says Voloshin. "We have more than 15,000 products, and more than two-thirds have been developed in response to customer requests. We listen to our customers and try to understand the value our products can bring to them."
The company offers customers a chance to request custom solutions with confidence. "We are ready to scale when our customers are ready," Voloshin adds.
Learning from microelectronics success
Hamamatsu's Pilot Line methodology draws from key learnings adapted from the microelectronics industry's success. "First, we embrace a design-for-manufacturing culture," explains Voloshin. "We ensure that decisions made at the design stage consider downstream cost and scalability implications. This prevents the common scenario where brilliant lab prototypes fail in production due to manufacturability issues."
Following on from this, the company relies on an ecosystem of products and building blocks. "We, our customers, and the photonics community have tested many combinations of photonic building blocks. Many components were optimised based on ideas for further integration with completely different technologies. Standardised building blocks and modular subsystems enable faster iteration and smoother transition to production."
The future lies in miniaturisation
When asked about future trends, Voloshin is clear about where the industry is heading: "The future of photonics lies increasingly in miniaturization and integration. Photonic integrated chip technologies can reshape the future of technology today. But quite often, they are either passive or support only one function, either photodetection or photoemission."
Hamamatsu offers clients free feasibility assessments of different technologies for their applications, including miniature discrete optics and photonic chips.
"I'd also like to draw the attention of the industrial community to our Photo-ICs, which are ultra-compact photonic modules with both light emitters and detectors," says Voloshin. "These tiny assemblies are created to solve specific end-user tasks. A photodetector alone cannot detect moisture, but a Photo-IC can. At the Pilot Line, we always advise our clients on which technology could be the best tool for their application."
The one-stop-shop promise
Hamamatsu's one-stop-shop promise means innovators can approach the company with a concept and walk away with a validated module or mini-system, ready for industrial use and volume manufacturing.
"One of the biggest hurdles innovators face is the disconnect between what works in the lab and what can be industrialised at scale," explains Voloshin. "In photonics, this gap is amplified by the complexity of optical alignment, packaging tolerances, thermal sensitivity, and supply chain fragmentation."
The solution lies in Hamamatsu's integrated approach. "With the Hamamatsu Photonics Pilot Line scheme, our customers prototype in the lab with components that are already proven to be compatible with volume manufacturing," says Voloshin. "As part of a vertically integrated company with research, development, production, and application capabilities, our Pilot Line was specifically designed to address these pitfalls."
Democratising innovation access
Through strategic partnerships, particularly with PhotonHub Europe, Hamamatsu extends its reach into cutting-edge academic innovation while providing unified access points for European SMEs. "Our partnership with VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and its B-PHOT research group extends our reach into cutting-edge academic innovation and enhances our proof-of-concept capabilities," explains Voloshin. "Through PhotonHub, we also provide a unified entry point for European SMEs, making advanced photonics support more accessible to first-time users or non-specialists. This democratises access to innovation tools and accelerates adoption across sectors."
The company actively engages with the community through various channels. "We love industrial and research community events – they're the best way to have targeted conversations with our customers," says Voloshin. "We actively engage at industry events, run joint feasibility workshops, and offer open calls like our Photonics Innovation Awards."
However, he emphasises their particular interest in application-specific projects: "Our Pilot Line especially values application-specific enquiries, where customers are less aware of the capabilities of photonics. These give us a chance to learn more about applications, exchange ideas with new communities, and brainstorm innovations that could revolutionise everyday life."
Approach and targeted applications
When discussing the broader impact, Voloshin returns to the core philosophy: "As previously mentioned, we should think in the paradigm of end-user applications and build versatile photonic tools and modules. The Pilot Line enables this future by allowing customers to focus on what matters most."
Hamamatsu is already supporting projects across multiple sectors. These include agri-photonics and the food industry, healthcare and medical devices requiring precision photonic solutions, environmental sensing with miniaturised spectroscopy engines, quantum technologies through low-noise detector and light source modules, and industrial process control with compact, real-time inline sensors.
"The Pilot Line is intentionally technology-agnostic and application-driven," says Voloshin. "If your innovation involves light and can make a real-world impact, we want to hear from you."
Transforming the innovation paradigm
For Voloshin, Hamamatsu’s Pilot Line represents something fundamental: "The Pilot Line represents more than a service offering – it embodies a fundamental shift in how photonics innovation should be approached. By enabling customers to spend less time optimising photonics hardware and more time tailoring solutions for specific applications, we remove traditional barriers to photonics adoption."
This transformation is essential for realising photonics' full potential. "As our industry moves toward modular, application-specific photonic systems that integrate light generation, detection, and control in compact, robust packages, initiatives like the Pilot Line will prove crucial in accelerating this evolution."
His final thoughts reflect the company's mission: "The future of photonics lies not in the technologies themselves, but in their thoughtful application to solve real-world challenges. Our Pilot Line is helping to make that future a reality, one application at a time. Send us a few paragraphs document about your application to pilot-lines@hamamatsu.eu; we will do our best to contact you within five business days to discuss a feasibility note and roadmap, including risks, blocks and a path to new product introduction."
