A Bristol start-up founded by two quantum engineering PhD graduates that builds ready-to-use photonic chip components and classroom devices, based at the University of Bristol's Quantum Technologies Innovation Centre.
Light Trace Photonics works on integrated photonics, which means using tiny chips to steer and shape light instead of electricity. Photonic chips matter for quantum technology, communications and fast data processing, but designing and making them is slow and expensive. Light Trace's answer is LightCraft, a platform that gives customers a library of tested photonic components and sub-systems, so engineers can try an idea on existing chips before committing to a full chip design. It is built on LightPort, an evaluation board that supports quick prototyping and training. The company says this lets customers spend more of their effort on the whole system and get to market sooner.
The founders are Dr Jake Biele (chief executive) and Dr Dominic Sulway (chief technology officer), who both did their PhDs in the Quantum Engineering Centre for Doctoral Training at the University of Bristol. Dr Biele won Innovate UK's Young Innovator award for 2021/22. In April 2023 the company's mission was reported as addressing the UK's shortage of photonics engineers and applying photonic chips to problems such as the climate crisis and pressures on the NHS. Its first product idea was a Raspberry Pi-style educational device that brings photonics experiments into classrooms, so that pupils and students can build their own photonic systems and learn to program photonic chips. Dr Biele noted that few students have even heard the word photonics when they start university.
Light Trace is a Bristol company. It joined the Quantum Technologies Innovation Centre (QTIC) at the University of Bristol in October 2024 to use its quantum photonics laboratory equipment. The UK's Photonic Leadership Group has projected 150,000 additional highly skilled photonics jobs by 2035, a figure that was quoted in 2023 coverage of the company, and the Bristol area is one of the places those jobs are expected. We did not find details of other offices, and no staff total was published in what we read.
The people named are Dr Biele and Dr Sulway, who previously worked at QTIC alongside the photonics start-up Siloton, and the integrated photonic engineers James Blatcher and Dr Quinn Palmer. Dr Biele said, "At Light Trace, we don't just design, we build." That is the founder's own phrase and the only description of culture we found. It suggests a hands-on engineering team that designs, builds and tests its own parts.
Photonics start-ups need chip designers, test and lab engineers, software developers for the control and training tools, and people who can teach and explain, since education is part of the mission. Physics, engineering, electronics and computer science all lead here, and the company's own story shows the route from a university research programme to a start-up. Check its website and the QTIC pages for the current team and projects.
Website: www.lighttracephotonics.com
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