2026 winner

Professor Susumu Noda (Kyoto University) is the winner of the 2026 Rank Prize for Optoelectronics. Through more than 25 years of dedicated research, he has developed a new form of semiconductor laser, the PCSEL, which combines the optical performance of more bulky laser systems with the efficiency, compactness, ruggedness (durability) and integrability of smaller semiconductor lasers. The PCSEL is an ideal candidate for implementation in areas such as high-precision manufacturing, autonomous vehicles (LIDAR) and space applications.

Why the research matters

Since the first demonstration of the laser in 1960, there have been continuous improvements in the performance and physical characteristics of the technology. In recent decades, optical fibre lasers and semiconductor lasers have been competing technologies, with both of these having a claim to being the most useful lasers. With the PCSEL, Professor Noda has enabled semiconductor lasers to challenge the performance of fibre lasers in several key ways, including both optical performance and physical characteristics. The PCSEL builds on some of the known advantages of semiconductor lasers – direct electrical drive, high wallplug efficiency, compactness and ruggedness – but adds some key optical characteristics where semiconductors have not previously performed so well. The most notable of these improvements is the high power available from the PCSEL combined with high beam quality (or spatial mode profile), narrow spectral linewidth and controllability.

The PCSEL does this by solving a problem affecting other successful semiconductor lasers, such as the edge-emitting semiconductor laser (EEL) and the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). In the EEL, light passes horizontally through the gain layers of the semiconductor and is emitted from the edge, while in the VCSEL, light passes vertically and is emitted from the top face. Although these lasers work well at low powers, scaling to higher powers means increasing their cross-sectional area to get more gain, and it becomes hard to control the profile of the light across this larger area due to issues such as spatial gain and temperature variations. With the PCSEL, this problem has been elegantly addressed by the introduction of a detailed pattern of tiny holes into the semiconductor material to control the shape of the optical mode, enabling the emission of high-power, high-quality beams from the top surface.  Furthermore, manipulation of the complex pattern of holes enables the optical emission of any beam pattern, or even electronic scanning of the output beam. This has required not only the use of high-precision technology at the forefront of modern engineering, but also a deep understanding of the interaction between such a pattern of holes (the so-called “photonic crystal”) and the light inside the laser.

Through more than 25 years of dedicated research, Professor Noda has identified the barriers facing the further development of the PCSEL and invented ways for these to be overcome, bringing the PCSEL to the point of being application-ready and ripe for commercialisation. Not only has Professor Noda led the research through this period, publishing numerous results in the very best scientific journals, but he has improved the prospects for commercialisation by building an extensive suite of patent specifications and through engaging directly with numerous businesses: his university-based Centre of Excellence for PCSELs claims engagement with over 150 companies and institutes. In addition, he has recently established the Kyoto University PCSEL Research Centre to accelerate the social implementation of PCSEL technology. The establishment and direction of businesses like Vector Photonics (UK) and Phosertek (Taiwan) show that others see the value here as well.

About Professor Susumu Noda

Professor Susumu Noda received his BSc, MSc and PhD degrees from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, in 1982, 1984 and 1991 respectively, all in electronics, and an honorary degree from Ghent University, Belgium, in 2006. From 1984 to 1988, he was with the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, joining Kyoto University in 1988. He became a full Professor of Kyoto University in 2000. Currently, he is a Distinguished Professor at the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study (KUIAS). He is also serving as the Representative Director of the Kyoto University PCSEL Research Centre, a general incorporated association.

Professor Noda has received various awards, including the IBM Science Award (2000), Optical Society of America Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize (2006), IEEE Fellow (2008), Medal with Purple Ribbon (2014), the Japan Society of Applied Physics Outstanding Achievement Award (2015), Fellow of the Laser Society of Japan (2017), MOC (Microoptic Conference) Award (2019) and the Japan Academy Prize (2022). For more details, see: https://kuias.kyoto-u.ac.jp/e/profile/noda/.