Shifting the Bounds of Possibility: That Were the Photonics Days Jena 2024

Jena | October 9, 2024

What is science if not the desire to understand the world and break through boundaries? Themed "New Limits", this year's Photonics Days Jena from September 26 to 27 showed how photonics and optics research is constantly helping to shift the bounds of possibility. In attendance: a Nobel Prize winner and around 180 international participants from 26 nations.

"In the beginning, my research area was very small," recalls Prof. Anne L'Huillier. Her area of research, the so-called 'high harmonics', describes a physical phenomenon in which laser pulses influence matter and thus generate light at a higher frequency. "In the late 80s and early 90s, there were only four or five laboratories working on this," she continues. "I couldn't have predicted what would develop from this."

What ensued was groundbreaking pioneering work that contributed significantly to the development of attosecond physics and earned the Swedish-French physicist the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2023. So Anne L'Huillier knows a thing or two about boundaries - and how to push them.

New Limits – no Limits?

This made her the ideal keynote speaker for the Photonics Days Jena, which took place this year on the theme of "New Limits". Around 180 participants from 26 countries accepted the invitation to Jena and took part, either in person or virtually, in the traditional networking and career event for young researchers.

The inspiring keynote speech by the Nobel Prize winner offered deep insights into the complex world of attosecond physics. This was preceded by a varied event program that was all about the "New Limits" - or "No Limits", as Prof. Karina Weichold, Vice President for Studies and Teaching at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, noted with a wink in her welcoming address at the start of the event.

Boundaries big and small

In various lectures, researchers from Jena presented the latest technologies that have the aim of achieving great things. Dr. Jan Kinast from Fraunhofer IOF presented the MICADO instrument, which will be one of the first "eyes" of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). The ELT, which is currently being built in Chile, will be able to image distant galaxies in greater detail than any telescope ever before.

From the vastness of space, we returned to the small world of chips and quanta: Michael Reibe, also from Fraunhofer IOF, explained "photonic packaging" - that is, the low-loss coupling of fibers and chips, which will be crucial for the future of quantum computing. His Fraunhofer colleague Dr. Sebastian Schmitt also showed how advanced 2D materials can increase the potential of photonic integrated circuits.

Meanwhile, Abdel Karim Ruvalcaba Perez from the ams OSRAM Group addressed everyday issues such as the threat of food shortages in the face of climate change. In his project for the multispectral analysis of food, he wants to develop sensors that can determine the optimal harvest time for fruit and vegetables and thus reduce food waste.

Awards and grants amounting to 45,000 EUR

The speakers at this year's Photonics Days Jena once again showed: Young researchers have no shortage of innovative ideas. But research ideas also need research budgets in order to be implemented.

The Center of Excellence in Photonics therefore once again hosted the "Idea Pitches" in 2024, with a total of 45,000 EUR in funding to be won. A total of seven idea pitchers presented their concepts. The audience decided on the winners via online voting

More awards were presented to outstanding young researchers during the Photonics Days Jena - including the Applied Photonics Awards, Fraunhofer IOF's prize for young researchers for outstanding theses and, this year, the Dr.-Ing. Siegfried Werth Foundation Prize as well.

Networking between science and industry

The second day of the Photonics Days Jena focused on active networking between science and industry. At an "Industry Breakfast", participants had the opportunity to talk to companies from the optics and photonics industry over a cup of coffee in a relaxed atmosphere and discuss individual career opportunities.

A second keynote speech by Dr. Hagen Zimer, CEO and CTO of the Laser Technology division at TRUMPF, focused on current market trends and future fields of application for innovative laser technologies. The Photonics Days Jena 2024 program was concluded by a workshop on personal career planning and a lab tour, during which the tech-savvy audience was able to take a look behind otherwise closed lab doors.  

About the Photonics Days Jena

In order to promote young talent and thus innovation in the fields of optics and photonics, Fraunhofer IOF has been organizing the "Photonics Days Jena" together with the Max Planck School of Photonics as a networking and career event for students and doctoral candidates since 2019. From September 26 to 27, the organizers hosted a hybrid event to network with an international community and representatives from renowned companies. In addition to the professional exchange, the focus was on career guidance and the provision of valuable contacts for one's own professional career.

The Fraunhofer IOF and the Max Planck School of Photonics will be hosting the Photonics Days Jena again next year, prospectively in the fall. The organizers will provide information on the specific date at www.photonicsdays.de. Moreover, interested participants can register at photonics.days@iof.fraunhofer.de for an event reminder via e-mail.