Awards 2011 - 2020

Stefan Heist was honoured with the Carl Zeiss Award for Young Researchers for his new development of two projection techniques, with which he has significantly advanced optical 3D measurement methods.

With the new measurement method for 3D shape detection, both transparent, shiny and deep black objects can be scanned in three dimensions.

His findings on this research were published in the digital journal "Light: Science & Applications" in 2018.

Prof. Stefan Nolte (Deputy Director of Fraunhofer IOF) has been honoured by SPIE as a new Fellow. He received this honour due to his significant achievements in promoting fundamental findings in ultrashort pulse laser micromachining.

At this year's LED professional Symposium (LpS2019), Dr. Peter Schreiber, researcher from the Department of Micro-Optical Systems, received the Best Scientific Award 2019 for his scientific contribution "Micro-Optics for Efficient LED Spotlights with Arbitrary Farfield Distributions" in the current November/December issue of LED Professional Review. The award is given to cutting-edge technologies that have the greatest impact on lighting, applications and sustainability.

For the third time, the SPIE "Rising Researcher Award" programme has honoured young professionals who have made outstanding achievements and significant progress in product development or research in the fields of defence, commercial and scientific sensing, imaging and optics.

One of this year's award winners is Dr. Stefan Heist from Fraunhofer IOF. He was honoured for his research work in the fields of optical metrology, three-dimensional form measurement and fast pattern projection.

At Friedrich Schiller University Jena, the European Research Council (ERC) is funding the development of a high-power fibre laser system for generating coherent laser pulses in the infrared, terahertz and soft X-ray range with almost 2.5 million euros over the next five years. The physicist Prof. Dr. Jens Limpert and his research team at the Institute of Applied Physics (IAP) have been awarded one of the prestigious ERC Advanced Grants. Limpert is one of the few researchers in Germany, and the only one in Thuringia, to have been awarded ERC funding three times: he received a Starting Grant in 2009, followed by a Consolidator Grant in 2014.

They are also honouring Jena's photonics research abroad: scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF and the Institute for Applied Physics (IAP) - including four doctoral students - were honoured in San Francisco with the "Best Paper Award" and the "Best Student Paper Awards" for particularly outstanding research contributions. The prizes were awarded as part of the international optics and photonics trade fair "SPIE.Photonics West".

A team of researchers from Jena was honoured with the Lothar Späth Award 2018 in Stuttgart on 8 December 2018 for their collaboration in the field of solid-state lasers. Fraunhofer IOF Director Prof. Andreas Tünnermann and Bettina Limpert, Managing Director of Active Fiber Systems GmbH, received the third prize for their development of ultrashort pulse lasers. The prize, endowed with a total of 40,000 euros, was awarded for the first time in honour of the former Minister President of Baden-Württemberg, who died in 2016.

The Photonics Days 2018 took place in Jena from 17 to 20 September under the motto "SPOTS.ON photonics!". One of the highlights was the award ceremony on 18 September for the Fraunhofer IOF's Applied Photonics Award, which is endowed with a total of 11,250 euros. This honours particularly outstanding theses in the field of applied optics. It was presented by the Thuringian Minister of Economics and Science, Wolfgang Tiefensee, in front of around 100 invited guests at the Volksbad in Jena.

Dr Stefan Heist from the Fraunhofer IOF was honoured with the Applied Photonics Award for his dissertation "High-speed 3D shape measurement using aperiodic sinusoidal patterns". Dr Markus Gräfe from Fraunhofer IOF received the STIFT Special Prize for his research work "Integrated Photonic Quantum Walks in Complex Lattice Structures".

Dr. Stefan Heist from the Fraunhofer IOF has received the Young Talent Award from the German Society for Applied Optics (DGaO) for his doctoral thesis on ‘High-speed 3D shape measurement using aperiodic sinusoidal patterns’. The prize, worth 1,000 euros, was awarded to him at the DGaO annual conference, which took place in Aalen in 2018.

Together with ten industrial partners and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, a research team from Fraunhofer IOF has developed an innovation that opens the way for new optical applications - the keyword is freeform optical systems. At the Fraunhofer Annual Conference on 15 May 2018, the team led by project manager Dr. Ramona Eberhardt was awarded the Stifterverband's Science Prize for Collaborative Research 2018. Technologies and solutions that work with light are present in almost all industries and markets. Specific applications include driver assistance systems, infrared optics for emergency services and optical systems for environmental monitoring and telescopes. Accordingly, the demand for innovative solutions is growing.

Marta Kazimierska, a Master's student at the Fraunhofer Institute IOF in Jena, was honoured in April 2018 at the Central European Spring Conference of the Society for Information Display (SID) for her research work on the use of spatial light modulators in non-rotationally symmetric imaging systems. Around one million of these light modulators are arranged on an area of less than one square centimetre as a reflective or transmitting microdisplay in order to dynamically and ultra-precisely change or adjust the wavefront in optical systems.

Kazimierska's development could be used to dynamically compensate for imaging errors in existing optical systems. Particular attention is paid to the correction of the entire image field. Marta Kazimierska has made an important contribution to this with her work.

At the largest internal Fraunhofer networking event, the "Netzwert" symposium, a young scientist from the Fraunhofer Institute IOF was honoured with the Hugo Geiger Prize for her outstanding doctoral thesis in February 2018. The prize, donated by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, was awarded to Dr. Astrid Bingel for her dissertation on the topic of "Tailor-made TCO coatings and coating systems". The prize was presented by Franz Josef Pschierer, State Secretary in the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology.

Jena-based laser researcher Dr. Fabian Stutzki has been honoured with the Carl Zeiss Award for Young Researchers 2018 for his research work on the topic of "Active large-core fibres for ultrashort pulse lasers". The award ceremony took place at the ZEISS Symposium "Optics in the Quantum World" in Oberkochen in front of around 200 international scientists and leading industry representatives.

Dr. Stutzki's award-winning research work was carried out as part of the Center of Excellence in Photonics a joint initiative of the Fraunhofer IOF and the Institute for Applied Physics at Friedrich Schiller University Jena.

On 27 June 2017, the annual Green Photonics Young Talent Award was presented to young scientists at the LASER World of Photonics in Munich. This young talent award honours theses that link the topic of light in an innovative way with the areas of energy and resource-saving processes, the environment, health and nutrition.

Among the winners was Dr. Astrid Bingel, who was awarded first place in the dissertation category for her thesis on "Tailor-made TCO coatings and coating systems".

On 4 July 2016, the best academic papers on topics such as energy and resource efficiency or environmental protection were honoured at the Laser Display and Lighting Conference (LDC) in Jena. A total of eight researchers received an award. Six young scientists received the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's annual Green Photonics Young Talent Award. Two Fraunhofer IOF researchers were honoured with STIFT special prizes for their final theses (Master's and dissertation).

Five Fraunhofer IOF researchers are the winners of the 2014 Rudolf Kingslake Award, which annually honours authors with the most notable original work on theoretical and experimental aspects of lighting technology published in the journal "Optical Engineering". The award was presented during the opening of SPIE Optical Systems Design 2015, which takes place between 7-10 September in Jena.

The winners Stefan Heist, Andreas Mann, Dr. Peter Kühmstedt, Dr. Peter Schreiber and Prof. Dr. Gunther Notni jointly authored the award-winning paper: "Array projection of aperiodic sinusoidal patterns for high-speed 3D measurement", which was published in the November 2014 issue of "Optical Engineering".

Every year, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft awards the Green Photonics Young Talent Award for outstanding student theses and dissertations as part of the Fraunhofer Innovation Cluster to promote applied research.

Martin Heilemann was honoured for his master's thesis and Sven Döring for his dissertation in the STIFT Special Award Thuringia category.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Tünnermann has been awarded the "ERC Advanced Grant" by the European Research Council (ERC) for his excellent scientific work in the field of fibre laser physics. The award comes with a five-year research grant totalling 2.5 million euros. This is to be used to lay the foundations for further innovations in the field of fibre laser physics in basic research.

Solid-state lasers based on glass fibres are robust, can be easily amplified and are highly efficient. They are used in areas such as material processing, medical technology and aerospace.

Dr. Peter Kühmstedt and his research group from the Fraunhofer IOF and Andreas Christoph from the Ernst Haeckel House at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena have scored points with their project for the three-dimensional measurement of historical globes in the current competition theme ‘Stadt, Land, Netz! Innovations for a digital world’ of the “Land of Ideas” initiative.

Scientific excellence and promoting young talent

Norbert Kaiser succeeds in communicating the important fundamentals of optics in general and those of his special field of "optical coatings" in an exciting and accessible way, thereby making a major contribution to the recruitment and training of young talent in these areas.

In addition, his scientific work has made major contributions to the understanding of optically functional surfaces and coatings.

On 7 April, the Green Photonics Young Talent Awards were presented for the third time at the Hannover Messe. This prize honours young researchers in engineering or the natural sciences who have dealt with the sustainable use of light in their dissertations.

Dr. Christiane Präfke (University of Jena / Fraunhofer IOF) took 2nd place in the dissertation category.

Dr. Luisa Coriand (University of Jena / Fraunhofer IOF) received the Thuringia special prize in the dissertation category.

Ultra-fast images in 3D
The first prototypes of high-speed cameras and projectors are now available, with which moving objects can be captured three-dimensionally in the highest temporal and spatial resolution. For this development, the research team led by Prof. Dr. Richard Kowarschik (University of Jena), Dr. Gunther Notni and Dr. Peter Kühmstedt (both Fraunhofer IOF) was awarded one of the Thuringian Research Prizes 2013 in the Applied Research category on 27 January.

The prize of the 18th Microoptics Conference (MOC13), a biennial international conference, was awarded to Dr. Andreas Bräuer in Tokyo on 30 October 2013. He was honoured for his significant contributions to the realisation and technical implementation of new micro-optical systems, such as ultra-flat cameras ("compound eye camera") or LED lighting systems and projectors based on the principle of array projection developed at Fraunhofer IOF.

Dr. Andreas Brückner from Fraunhofer IOF Jena received this year's prize from the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Lasertechnik e. V. (WLT). Dr Brückner was honoured for the further development of micro-optical imaging principles based on multi-aperture structures. He has thus created the basis for further miniaturisation of digital imaging systems.

Jena scientists from the Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT), the Institute of Physical Chemistry (IPC) and the Institute of Applied Physics (IAP) at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, the Fraunhofer IOF and Jena University Hospital have jointly researched a multi-contrast imaging approach that is the key to powerful clinical diagnostics that do not require dyes.

CONTROLLED VAPORISATION

Ultra-short laser pulses can be used to process a wide variety of materials quickly and precisely without heating them up. Employees from Bosch, Trumpf, the University of Jena and the Fraunhofer IOF have turned ultrashort pulse lasers into a successful tool for series production. They received the German Future Prize for this on 4 December 2013.

The staff at Fraunhofer IOF would like to congratulate them!

On 8 April, the Green Photonics Young Talent Awards were presented for the second time at the Hannover Messe. This prize honours young researchers in engineering or the natural sciences who have dealt with the sustainable use of light in their dissertations.

Dr. Claudia Reinlein (TU Ilmenau / Fraunhofer IOF) received the special Thuringia prize in the dissertation category.

Solar cells shine in a rich blue colour. If the researchers at Jena University have their way, this uniform image may change in the future. Together with colleagues from the Fraunhofer Institute, they are working on new optical processes for solar cell production, which they refer to as "efficient design".

With its "Optical systems with compound eye technology" project, the Fraunhofer IOF is a "Selected Landmark 2012" in the Land of Ideas. This makes Fraunhofer IOF one of the winners of the "365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas" competition, which is organised by the "Germany - Land of Ideas" initiative in cooperation with Deutsche Bank.

On 12 June 2012, Dr. Peter Schreiber and Dr. Frank Wippermann accepted the award on behalf of their working groups from Kay-Uwe-Kerl from Deutsche Bank and Juliane von Trotha from the "Germany - Land of Ideas" initiative.

With their innovative photovoltaic concept "efficient design", Kevin Füchsel from the Fraunhofer IOF Jena and Dr Reinhold Pabst from the Institute of Applied Physics at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena won third place in the Jena-Weimar 2012 ideas competition with prize money of 500 euros. At the award ceremony on 5 July in Weimar, the judges praised the unique combination of efficient photovoltaics with the possibility of designing a solar façade completely freely in terms of shape, colour and design.

Together with colleagues from Aachen and Dresden, Dr. Torsten Feigl from the Fraunhofer IOF was awarded the 2012 Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize.

The collector optics he developed are key elements of next-generation lithography, which will enable the semiconductor industry to deliver ever faster and more powerful chips.

On 10 May 2012, Astrid Bingel, a young researcher from Jena, will be awarded the CiS Prize.

With this prize, the CiS e.V. Association for the Promotion of Microsensor Technology and Photovoltaics honours outstanding diploma and master's theses.

The Thuringian Research Award for Transfer goes to Dr. Ulrike Schulz and Dr. Peter Munzert from Fraunhofer IOF for their work on the AR-Plas anti-reflective coating process. Together with their colleagues, the scientists have developed an innovative process for anti-reflective coating of glass and plastic surfaces that minimises reflections within a few minutes. This means that even better lenses, for example for cameras or microscopes, can be produced. The process is being used successfully by the Thuringian companies Jenoptik Polymer Systems and Fresnel Optics GmbH.

Friedrich Rickelt has completed his training at the Fraunhofer IOF with the grade "very good" as the best physics laboratory technician in the East Thuringia Chamber of Industry and Commerce area and is honoured by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft as one of its best trainees. At the same time, Antja Oelschläger is honoured for her achievements as an instructor.

For his services to research into optical technologies in Thuringia and his contribution to consolidating Thuringia's leading position in the field of optics, Prof. Andreas Tünnermann will be awarded the Thuringian Order of Merit by Minister President Christine Lieberknecht on 12 May 2011.

Young researcher Anika Brahm from the Fraunhofer IOF in Jena has been honoured with third place in the Hugo Geiger Prize. In her master's thesis, she designed a terahertz measurement system that can be used to recognise the structure and chemical composition of objects, for example in quality control and security technology.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Tünnermann, Director of the Fraunhofer IOF in Jena and Director of the Institute of Applied Physics at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, was elected a member of acatech, the German Academy of Science and Engineering, by the General Assembly on 18 April 2011.

Student Award of the Society for Information Display (SID) presented to Constanze Grossmann, Dr. Stefan Riehemann elected to the board of the Central European section of the Society for Information Display (SID).