Hamamatsu announces Hikari: AI driven Support for photonics product selection. Published on 5 October 2026 Hamamatsu Photonics has launched Hikari, an AIâ€'powered assistant that provides immediate, expertâ€'level guidance to researchers and engineers selecting photonics components. Hikari translates user requirements into relevant product recommendations, specification insights, calculations, and compatibility checks, while also offering alternative options and multilingual support. Developed in collaboration with MEETOPTICS, the tool extends Hamamatsu's technical expertise by making accurate product information easier to access and enabling faster, more confident decisionâ€'making across What Hikari enables for customers. Hikari is designed to help users describe their application or technical challenge in natural language and receive intelligent, scientifically grounded guidance. The assistant can: * Identify suitable products based on application requirements * Suggest specification ranges and relevant parameters * Perform calculations and simulations to match product needs * Detect incompatibilities in customer inputs * Recommend alternatives and enable product comparisons * Support multilingual conversations for global accessibility A partnership that enhances customer support. Hikari is powered by MEETOPTICS' scientific AI technology, integrated directly into Hamamatsu's website to make the company's technical expertise more accessible. This collaboration allows Hamamatsu to offer customers a new level of guidance - combining decades of photonics knowâ€'how with advanced AI capabilities that interpret specifications, understand application needs, and streamline the productâ€'selection process. The partnership reinforces Hamamatsu's commitment to delivering reliable, expertâ€'level support at every stage of a customer's project. Extending Hamamatsu's technical expertise. Hamamatsu's product range spans more than 2,500 photonics components, including: Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), photodiodes, avalanche photodiodes (APDs), cameras, image sensors, miniâ€'spectrometers, LEDs, infrared detectors and many more components, modules and systems. Selecting the right component often depends on parameters such as wavelength range, speed, sensitivity, noise performance, and environmental conditions. Hikari helps users interpret these requirements and match them to the most suitable products. "For more than 70 years, our value has been built on deep technical expertise and pioneering photonics technologies. Hikari extends that expertise to every user, making it easier to navigate our portfolio and identify the best solution for each customer's specific needs," said Marco Mayer, Strategic Business Development Manager at Hamamatsu Photonics. "This allows our internal teams to dedicate more time to understanding customer challenges, supporting complex projects, developing new technologies, and advancing R&D." Strengthening customer support and decision making. By providing instant, applicationâ€'based guidance, Hikari reinforces Hamamatsu's commitment to: * Accessible technical expertise * Reliable product information * Data-driven decisionâ€'making * Support for complex scientific and industrial applications Hikari helps customers move from initial concept to component selection more quickly, supporting both earlyâ€'stage exploration and advanced system design.

Hamamatsu Photonics has launched the iPHEMOS-DDX, an inverted emission microscope for failure analysis of advanced semiconductor packages. The system targets AI chiplets, High Bandwidth Memory, and 2.5D/3D packages as the semiconductor industry grows more complex with generative AI development. The iPHEMOS-DDX supports direct docking to testers from three directions, allowing flexible integration into existing measurement environments. It combines seven analysis techniques — PEM, Thermal/LIT, LSM, OBIRCH, DALS, EOP/EOFM, and TD Imaging — on a single platform to streamline failure analysis workflows and reduce analysis time. Hamamatsu will present the system at ISTFA 2026 in San Antonio, Texas, from 4 to 8 October. The company manufactures devices for infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light generation and measurement, serving scientific, industrial, and commercial applications globally.

How SiPM technology pushes the limits of particle detection. 1 October 2026 Across high-energy physics experiments, scintillator-based detectors rely on fast, sensitive photodetection to capture faint flashes of light from charged particles and rare interactions. The MPPC(R) silicon photomultipliers developed through Hamamatsu Photonics' in-house manufacturing expertise combine high gain, fast response, excellent timing resolution and customisation to support demanding detector designs. These applications place intense demands on detector performance. Particle trackers, for example, require strong light-detection capability for signals produced by charged particles, together with good spatial resolution, compact size, fast response and short recovery times to follow large numbers of particles. In large-scale scintillator systems, specifications such as active area, spatial resolution, interaction rate and hit efficiency directly influence the ability to detect infrequently occurring events and push measurement boundaries. When charged particles cross scintillating fibres, the resulting light signals are extremely faint. In high-radiation environments, where increased sensor noise can compromise signal detection, maintaining reliable sensitivity becomes critical. This is where MPPC(R) silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) from Hamamatsu Photonics play a critical role. Future experiments will place even greater emphasis on timing precision, noise reduction and high-rate capability. Detector cooling, low-noise operation and custom device structures are among the strategies used to maintain performance under increasingly challenging conditions. Why SiPMs are the preferred choice for modern HEP detectors. Each MPPC(R)(MultiPixel Photon Counter) is an array of avalanche photodiode pixels operating in Geiger mode, for extremely low-level light detection with high gain, fast response and excellent timing resolution. These characteristics make the technology well suited for high-energy physics applications. For the high-energy physics applications, Hamamatsu develops sophisticated custom-made MPPC(R)(SiPM) arrays with reduced inactive area, optimised entrance windows and packaging designed for the efficient readout of densely packed scintillator systems. This ability to customise at scale supports detector concepts ranging from compact tracking modules to large multi-channel photodetection systems. Engineering for precision: PDE, dark noise and rare-event sensitivity. Photon detection efficiency (PDE) is a key metric for MPPC(R) capability. Peak sensitivity in the 400-500 nm range, which aligns well with many scintillator emission spectra, increases the probability of detecting every critical photon. PDE is determined by factors including fill factor, quantum efficiency and avalanche probability, with Hamamatsu refining wafer processes to minimise lattice defects and improve carrier transport. Low dark-count rates (DCRs) are equally vital, particularly for rare-event experiments. MPPC(R) devices exhibit temperature-dependent DCR behaviour, which can be significantly reduced through thermoelectric cooling, halving the DCRs for each ~10 °C reduction. Beyond tracking, MPPC(R) technology also supports detector types where timing, compactness and low-light sensitivity are essential, including calorimeters, time-of-flight systems, beam diagnostics and low-background experiments. By tailoring the device characteristics to each application, Hamamatsu helps researchers balance sensitivity, noise performance, channel density and reliability. For experiments requiring near-zero background, such as neutrinoless double-beta decay, Hamamatsu also develops low-radioisotope MPPC(R) designs, selecting materials that drastically reduce internal noise sources and improve sensitivity under demanding conditions. Hamamatsu also offers MPPC(R) devices specifically designed for cryogenic liquid-noble-gas detectors. Optimised for operation at cryogenic temperatures and featuring enhanced sensitivity in the vacuum-ultraviolet spectral range, these devices support applications such as liquid xenon and liquid-argon detectors used in dark matter and neutrino experiments. The invisible advantage. Hamamatsu's detectors are built on decades of in-house manufacturing expertise. This foundation allows CERN Courier to deliver stable, low-noise and application-specific photodetectors that integrate seamlessly into complex experimental environments. By collaborating closely with research teams, CERN Courier help ensure that each detector module meets the required performance targets, from timing and noise to channel density and long-term reliability.