Lightfinder develops chip-scale spectrometers that deliver lab-grade optical sensing in a miniaturized, scalable form. Built on silicon photonics and paired with intelligent software, the platform enables real-time analysis in places legacy systems can’t reach—from factory floors to hospitals—powering decisions in manufacturing, telecommunications, healthcare, and beyond.
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Diana Mojahed
Diana Mojahed is the founder and CEO of Lightfinder, an MIT spinout pioneering integrated photonics to deliver compact, high-performance spectroscopy and imaging across industries. Mojahed earned her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Columbia University and completed postdoctoral training in MIT’s Department of Materials Science & Engineering. At MIT, she was named a Kavanaugh Fellow and received an award at the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition finals. Mojahed also serves as an ambassador for Optica, the scientific society for photonics.
TECHNOLOGY
Critical Need
Spectrometers convert light into information—powering decisions across healthcare, telecommunications, manufacturing, environmental monitoring, and more. Yet most systems remain bulky, expensive, and confined to centralized labs, leaving critical opportunities untapped. As industries demand faster, more distributed insights, the absence of accessible tools leaves decision-makers in the dark. Compact, real-time optical sensing is needed to monitor quality, detect anomalies, and automate processes. The promise of light lies not in its complexity, but in making its information simple, fast, and universally available. Affordable, high-performance spectrometers and imaging systems are essential to modernizing how industries see, sense, and respond to the world.
Technology Vision
Lightfinder’s innovation replaces bulky optical instruments with a miniaturized, chip-based system that fits in the palm of a hand—without compromising performance. Its digital Fourier transform spectrometer, built on standard semiconductor processes, uses a reconfigurable architecture to scale performance exponentially. This platform pairs with intelligent software to provide real-time insights across sectors. It also serves as a core building block for advanced optical systems like optical coherence tomography, enabling compact, high-resolution imaging. Lightfinder’s technology redefines how we find light—bringing precision optics out of the lab and into the world to address global challenges.
Potential for Impact
Lightfinder’s vision is to find light—and transform it into information that addresses the world’s greatest challenges. Its chip-scale technology enables a future where high-performance optical sensing is embedded across environments: on factory floors, and in data centers, farm fields, oceans, and hospitals. By miniaturizing and simplifying advanced spectroscopy, Lightfinder brings lab-grade analysis to places legacy systems can’t reach. It enables robust inspection, network monitoring, chemical sensing, and efficient disease detection—improving real-time decision-making in critical settings. As the platform scales, it becomes foundational infrastructure—powering autonomous quality control, diagnostics, and resilient supply chains across high-growth, high-urgency industries.
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Lightfinder