The Engineering Vision Behind Menhir Photonics: From Quantum Curiosity to Industrial Reality

In the world of ultra-fast photonics, an industry Benjamin (Beni) Rudin describes as “still very academic,” his approach stands out for a refreshing reason: a relentless pragmatism rooted in precision and engineering discipline.

As our CTO, co-founder and the technological heart of Menhir Photonics, Beni has been at the company’s core since its creation , spending more than seven years building a business that doesn’t just push the boundaries of laser technology, but makes it work reliably in the real world.

His journey to photonics began with a degree of uncertainty. “I wasn’t really sure if physics was the right thing for me,” Beni recalls of his early university days, “because I was also interested in engineering disciplines.” The resolution came during his first lecture with Professor Ursula Keller on quantum electronics. “I found exactly this combination. On one hand, quantum electronics is based on very interesting fundamental physics. But on the other hand, it has many, many actual applications.”
That blend of fundamental science and practical application became the foundation of Menhir Photonics’ philosophy and Beni’s approach to engineering.

The No-Screw Revolution: Simplicity Enables Industrial Scale

Beni realised a critical gap: high demand for ultra-fast lasers at telecom wavelengths, but the industry was trapped in an academic mindset. “The photonics industry, compared to many other big industries, is still very academic,” he explains. “But I saw that there is a chance to address mature markets such as telecom.”

The challenge was clear: “Reliability is everything,” Beni emphasizes. “The question is, how to make a laser system that is so reliable that you can basically deploy it in the field and it will just work for 10 years?”
His answer was the “no screw or no bolt policy,” one of the first and most crucial engineering decisions at Menhir Photonics. Traditional laser manufacturing relied on complex assemblies screwed together. “I realized that this is not scalable.”

Instead, Menhir Photonics adopted specialist bonding techniques. “This not only made our lasers much more reliable, but even more, it opened the possibility for miniaturization and automated assembly.”
It’s a decision that exemplifies Beni’s engineering philosophy: simplicity enables reliability, and reliability enables scale.

Mature Technology, Guaranteed Performance

While the photonics industry chases innovation, Beni champions proven, mature technology. “The most important thing is that you use proven technology,” he says. “Your system has to be based on reliable components that you could order from many different suppliers all around the world.”
Relying on “disruptive technology” from a few academic sources is not viable in the industrial field. This commitment to simplicity guarantees reliability, reproducibility, and producibility.

The design mandates that “the laser system should be as simple as possible.” By ensuring production tolerances are generous, the company avoids dependence on highly specialist PhD-level expertise for assembly. “If the laser is too difficult to produce, it is not scalable. You can never transfer this to a machine. And that’s our goal. We want the production process to be fully automated.”

Balancing Innovation with Reliability

Does this focus on proven technology constrain innovation? Beni believes the choice depends entirely on the customer. “If the applications need the highest levels of reliability, it’s better to compromise on innovation. Because innovation means that things are new, and to a certain extent, these things are then unqualified.” For conservative telecom customers, failure is catastrophic, requiring systems that are thoroughly tested and qualified.

However, Menhir Photonics also serves researchers synchronizing particle accelerators or doing quantum experiments. “These customers want the lowest laser noise, and they are willing to sacrifice on reliability.” For Beni, these customers are extremely valuable: “They are our early adopters, and their feedback is essential because it helps us bring our system to the higher technology readiness level that we need for the bigger customers.”

This two-track approach, serving both cutting-edge researchers and conservative industrial clients, creates a natural innovation pipeline that has become central to Menhir Photonics’ development strategy.

Strategic Discipline Drives Results

What truly differentiates the company, according to Beni, isn’t just technical excellence, but strategic discipline. “Everything we develop, everything we do in general, must be in line with our company strategy,” he explains. “We have our three-year and five-year company goals, and everything we do has the purpose to reach these goals.”

This means making difficult choices. “We do not develop laser systems for quick money that we can only sell once or twice. And importantly, we do not apply for research grants if the project doesn’t help us achieve our goal.”

“I very often have to disappoint our sales people, because it’s very tempting to make this quick money,” Beni admits. “But I don’t want these quick developments. I don’t want anything quick and dirty. It’s tempting to tailor every product to each customer, but we need to stay disciplined. Our goal is to build lasers that technicians can reproduce in five years and maintain for the next ten. We’re not here to make short-term prototypes, but lasting platforms. And thanks to our research partners, we keep pushing our limits to create the products of tomorrow.”

“It’s very important that everyone in the company, but especially the R&D team, is 100% aware of our company strategy and goals. To keep the team aligned, we communicate the five-year strategy and the main goals repeatedly and transparently.”

Customer Partnership, Not Just Transaction

Beni’s philosophy extends to customer relationships. “We’re always very close to our customers. We always listen to them,” he says. “I see this with many startups. They are so involved with their idea that they don’t listen to the customers. In the end, you have to adapt your idea so that you can really sell it.”

The goal is to create a sustainable, long-term relationship. This includes honest communication about tradeoffs. When customers request customization, “it’s always important to openly discuss the advantages and drawbacks,” which usually include a higher price and higher risk.

We prioritize getting customers to adopt standard systems whenever possible, as “the customer can profit from the reliability of the system.” This commitment has built trust over time. “From the beginning, our lasers were really reliable, and slowly but surely we gained the trust of the customers, and then it started to spread in the community that our lasers are a reliable solution.”

The Miniaturization Milestone

Recently, Menhir Photonics reached a milestone that Beni has pursued since the company’s founding: true miniaturization with automated production. “We have started with the development of our miniature laser module. The laser that we miniaturize now is three by two centimeters, in the order of an inch.”

More importantly, “these lasers will be produced with assembly machines in a fully automated process. We’re working on micro-optical components based on scalable wafer technology. The assembly process includes pick-and-place automation and optical alignment.”

“We have claimed this from the beginning,” Beni reflects. “People in the photonics industry didn’t always believe us. But all the efforts we have made have always had this goal in mind. This never changed.”
The confirmation is sweet: “I’m just proud that we finally were able to convince big customers from telecom and datacom that we will be able to deliver a real solution for them.”

Building Culture and Chasing Bold Goals

Beni’s technical leadership extends to team building. Drawing from ETH, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Menhir Photonics hires young talent directly from academia. “They come with some fascinating ideas, and you have to guide them and show them, look, we want to reach this, and it has to be in line. We are not in a university lab, we are in an industrial environment with clear goals.” The challenge is to provide clear direction without demotivating them.

Menhir Photonics’ ambitions are bold. “We want to become the biggest ultra-fast laser provider, not in terms of revenue, but in terms of numbers of laser systems delivered. By 2028, our plan is to produce and provide more than 10,000 lasers per year.”

This target is rooted in market analysis. “Our technology enables this strongly growing demand for data security at high bandwidth and 6G network synchronization,”

The Philosophy of Dedication and Risk

When asked what advice he’d give to young engineers, Beni’s response reflects his journey. He encourages potential founders: “If you have an idea for a product and you are convinced that you could realize it, you should go for it.”

He’s realistic about the negativity they might face. “You will meet many people that will tell you that it won’t work for whatever reason.” In his case, people said everything in photonics was already invented. His counsel? “You should not be discouraged by negativity.”

He emphasizes that bold decisions aren’t irreversible. “People think, okay, I made this big decision and it will define the rest of my life. But this is not necessarily true. There are days you make bigger decisions, but the following days, you can always adapt. You can make it work and find your way.”

Beni draws his inspiration from people who take risks, who are dedicated, and who question convention. “I’m inspired by people who think out of the box… and people that like something or have a dream, and they would just do whatever it takes to follow this.”

Shaping the Photonics Future

Looking ahead, Beni remains optimistic. “The future of photonics is bright,” he says. “There are many future applications that I’m convinced will require a solution that only photonics can supply.” He sees photonics continuing to penetrate traditionally electronic domains, such as computing or microwave technology. “There is a lot to be done, and working in photonics, you can really shape this future.”

For Benjamin Rudin, shaping that future means staying true to principles that seem almost counterintuitive in a technology industry obsessed with disruption: simplicity over complexity, reliability over innovation for its own sake, strategic discipline over opportunism, and proven technology thoughtfully applied over bleeding-edge solutions that can’t scale.

It’s an engineering philosophy born from the intersection of quantum mechanics and practical application, and it’s a philosophy that, after seven years, is being validated at scale.