After 20 years, scientists finally shrink a powerful laser onto a chip

For over 20 years, powerful ultrafast lasers have been stuck on large, expensive lab tables — but that's changing. Researchers at EPFL have built the first chip-based femtosecond laser matching traditional tabletop performance, using a clever design called a Mamyshev oscillator. Roughly the size of a matchhead, the chip could enable affordable portable devices for medical diagnostics, pollution detection, and compact atomic clocks.