Press Releases

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, together with their partner, have been awarded the Lothar Späth Award 2021 for the development of metal-optical precision instruments. The high-performance telescope GALA is to be used in the ESA JUICE mission planned for 2023 to explore Jupiter's moon Ganymede. The award ceremony took place on November 19 in Stuttgart, Germany.

Researchers from Jena and Freiburg have jointly developed a new type of mirror telescope for use on the International Space Station ISS. The findings that the measuring instrument will provide there in the future should, among other things, provide answers to climate change and facilitate the efficient use of water in agriculture. The instrument will begin its journey into space in February 2022. The development of the telescope was funded by the “Digital Innovation Hub Photonics,” a Thuringian initiative to promote start-up projects in the fields of optics and photonics.

One Nobel Prize winner, two funding awards, 45 program points, almost 50 speakers and nearly 600 participants from all over the world: These were this year's "Photonics Days Jena". The career and networking event for students and doctoral candidates in the field of optics and photonics, organized by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF and the Max Planck School of Photonics, met a high international interest in its third year with a hybrid format.

Clean water, the elimination of space debris, new methods for medical endoscopy, and more powerful lasers - once again innovative theses with a special connection to applied photonics were honored with the "Applied Photonics Award", the young researcher award by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF. The award was presented to the four prize winners on September 29 virtually by Nobel Prize Winner Prof. Dr. Reinhard Genzel as part of the "Photonics Days Jena".

Today, two German Federal agencies communicated via video for the first time in a quantum-secure manner. The QuNET project, an initiative funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to develop highly secure communication systems, is thus demonstrating how data sovereignty can be guaranteed in the future. This technology will not only be important for governments and public authorities but also to protect everyday data.

With nearly three million euros in funding, the “Center of Excellence in Photonics” as Jena's innovation platform continues to expand its research. 1.5 million euros of this comes from the Free State of Thuringia. The grants will be used to initiate new research collaborations, especially in imaging for life sciences and medicine. A particular focus is on technologies operating in the spectral range of EUV radiation and beyond.

The Thuringian Ministry of Economics and Science is supporting the acquisition of a new lithography system at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena with twelve million euros. The new system will enable outstanding basic research in the field of quantum technologies. It will also enable the realization of optics, e.g. for the space-borne observation of climate change. State Secretary Carsten Feller presented the funding decision today.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF is getting a new research building. The additional laboratory and clean room space will create novel possibilities on the Beutenberg Campus in Jena for new research work, especially in important future fields such as quantum technologies. Today, the festive ceremony of laying the foundation stone took place with selected representatives from politics and science.

Thuringia wants to become a high-tech location for quantum technologies. To this end, the Free State of Thuringia is contributing six million euros to fund a new center of excellence for quantum technologies. At a digital inauguration event, Thuringia's Minister of Science Wolfgang Tiefensee gave the go-ahead for the “Quantum Hub Thüringen” today in Erfurt.

With the "International Day of Light" on May 16, UNESCO draws attention to research and science related to light as well as to light-based technologies that - literally - "illuminate" our lives in many areas. The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena, Germany contributes to this with its excellent research on a global scale. Researchers have already been awarded the "Deutsche Zukunftspreis" (German Future Prize) three times.