Developing an on-chip 4-telescope beam combiner (4T-nuller) for nulling interferometry at mid-infrared wavelengths using ultrafast laser inscription fabrication technique. This is part of the VLTI ( Paranal, Chile) of the European Southern Observatory’s visiting instrument Asgard, aimed at detecting and characterizing exoplanets and exozodiacal dust with the submodule instrument NOTT. 

Development of astro-photonics strategies and testing in simulated space environments aims to meet strict space mission requirements from launch to in-space operation, as space missions are emerging, e.g., HWO and LIFE. As astro-photonics devices mature in ground-based observatories, their deployment in space offers benefits including low power consumption, easy operation, and a miniature size, significantly reducing mission complexity and costs by several hundred times.