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In the annual evaluation of the Fraunhofer Centers of Excellence, the Center of Excellence in Photonics, located in Jena, once again achieved an excellent third place among the 20 centers of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. The evaluation was based on three main criteria: (1) quality and success of the measures implemented in 2024, (2) the transfer highlight in 2024, and (3) the roadmap and action plan for 2025.

The review committee rated all three areas as very good for the Center of Exellence in Photonics and highlighted the following aspects in particular:

• exemplary integration and cooperation of the performance center's partners through coordinated R&D activities, cross-institutional research groups and projects, and successful personnel development and knowledge transfer,
• successful acquisition of the “de:hub Photonics & Digital Experience Platform” as a nationwide networked start-up platform and the resulting national and international visibility,
• transfer highlight 2024: Award of the “DPG Technology Transfer Prize 2025” to Quantum Optics Jena, the Digital Innovation Hub Photonics and the Fraunhofer IOF for the successful development of a future technology and its transfer to a successful start-up, and
• ambitious goal of establishing the Center Jena as the “National Contact Point for Photonics.”
• This outstanding result is an important recognition of the great commitment of the partners and the success of the measures, the effectiveness of the cooperation projects funded by the Free State of Thuringia, and an important step for the Center of Excellence in Photonics toward becoming a national transfer structure for photonics.

The Fraunhofer Gesellschafts Centers of Excellence organize close cooperation between university and non-university research and industry. Universities, colleges, Fraunhofer Institutes, non-university research institutions, and companies work together on a regional and topic-specific basis to quickly translate ideas and innovations into successful applications. The centers stand for unique, usable infrastructure, cross-institutional cooperation and training concepts, and excellent know-how.

On June 3, ten innovative teams presented groundbreaking ideas in the field of optics and photonics at the annual pitch event of the Digital Innovation Hub Photonics (DIHP). During these pitches, creative scientists, founders and young startups had the opportunity to win research support to further explore their ideas at the consortium's scientific institutions, as well as to network with key players from Thuringian science, industry, politics, and founding supporters.

The winners of the DIHP Elevator Pitches 2025 are:

• Coher Sense UG, Lübeck, with the idea of ultra-compact solid-state interferometers for laser-based quantum technologies.
• MUnique Technology GmbH, Munich, with the idea of a novel fiber-based optical measurement system for high-precision distance measurement and secure satellite communication.
• Dr. Dmitriy Mitin from Fraunhofer IOF with the idea of a projection engine for sub-μm UV lithography to create optical microstructures.
• Mihail Granovskij, freelancer in Jena, with the idea GRAUCH - smart vacuum monitoring for better data quality in production environments.
• Dr. Daniil Karnaushenko and his team from Technische Universität Chemnitz for the idea of fiber alignment for low-loss quantum optical networks.
• Tobias Weber of Axonics Prosthetics in Jena with the idea of innovative titanium prosthetics using optical and photonic processes.

The 2025 DIHP pitches were opened by inspiring words from Thuringian Minister of Economic Affairs Colette Boos-John, the director of the Fraunhofer IOF, Prof. Dr. Andreas Tünnermann, and Dr. Sebastian Händschke, project manager of the DIHP, sharing experiences and insights from science, economy and technology transfer through startups.

The Digital Innovation Hub Photonics (DIHP) is a consortial initiative to foster technology transfer in optics and photonics with and through startups. It was initiated at Fraunhofer IOF in the framework of the Center of Excellence in Photonics in 2019 and now includes its partners: Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena, Abbe Center of Photonics of the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Leibniz-Institute für Naturstoff-Forschung und Infektionsbiologie e. V. Hans-Knöll-Institut (Leibniz-HKI) und für Photonische Technologien e.V. (Leibniz-IPHT), and Helmholtz Institute Jena.

In close cooperation with the iHub of the Center of Excellence InSignA in Ilmenau, the DIHP and its research budgets are funded as Thuringian Innovation Hubs by the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Agriculture, and Rural Areas (TMWLLR - Thüringer Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Landwirtschaft & Ländlichen Raum).

In the first round of the Fraunhofer Centers of Excellence's competition, the Excellence Center in Photonics was awarded second place in the overall evaluation. The Center of Excellence was recognized for the high quality and ambition of the successes already achieved and measures implemented as well as future projects.

The close interdisciplinary cooperation within the network of participating institutions in Jena was particularly emphasized. The transfer activities, which are also reflected in the support of spin-offs and start-ups in the field of photonics through the Digital Innovation Hub Photonics, were also positively highlighted in the evaluation. Both measures enable the Center of Excellence to provide significant regional economic impetus. The Center of Excellence in Photonics also impressed with one of its numerous transfer successes. In close cooperation with the start-up Q.ANT, researchers from the participating institutes have developed low-loss LNOI waveguide components the size of a wafer, which are used as a key component for photonic integrated circuits.

From 2025, the Center of Excellence will start a second round of the competition and will be funded with a total of three million euros until 2027.

This year's participation in SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco was crowned with success for participating researchers from Jena: Three "Best Student Presentation Awards" went to scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF and the Institute of Applied Physics (IAP) at Friedrich Schiller University Jena for the particular scientific relevance and quality of their presentations.

The latest research developments and technologies in the field of optics and photonics attracted numerous representatives from science and industry to San Francisco from January 30 to February 1, 2024 for the largest international conference for photonics - SPIE Photonics West. The international event included the conferences "Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics: Biomedical, Scientific, and Industrial Applications XXIV" and "Fiber Lasers XXI: Technology and Systems", at which scientists from Jena were also represented.

Particularly scientifically outstanding contents and their presentation were honored with "Best Student Presentation Awards" at the two sub-conferences. This year, three researchers from Jena were able to convince the conference committee: Maximilian Karst (IAP), Friedrich Möller (IOF) and Mathias Lenski (IAP).

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New, creative research ideas and innovative technology concepts often arise in everyday scientific work. However, in order to further develop these in a publicly funded project, numerous open questions must first be clarified, especially in the initial phase, e.g. regarding the fundamental technical feasibility or the evaluation of different solutions.

The "High Performance Center Photonics" - a joint initiative of the Fraunhofer IOF and the IAP/FSU Jena as well as the associated partners Leibniz HKI and IPHT and the Helmholtz Institute Jena - promotes research in important future fields of photonics and supports the transfer of innovative ideas into solutions for science, industry and society.

With the Elevator Pitches 2023, the High Performance Center once again offered researchers from the IOF and IAP the opportunity to present their innovative ideas at the Photonics Days 2023 and to win start-up funding for the further development of these ideas through the evaluation by the audience. This year, 5 innovative ideas were presented in focused, 5-minute pitches:

• Canan Gallitschke (ACP): Brain-Computer-Interface in the Lab
• Saikat Chandra Das (IOF): Optically Measuring the Material Thickness of Transparent Objects
• Daniel Lenhardt (IOF): Emotion-Driven Photonics Interface
• Johannes Kretzschmar (IAP): Gamification of Virtual Remote Experiments
• Robert Leitel (IOF): META-Lens for infrared imaging

All the projects presented were rated very positively by the audience and were thus able to win project funding totalling €40,000 for initial experimental implementations. We would like to thank all the speakers and look forward to the results of the research projects!

Further information about the event

With the "Unternehmen Region" (engl.: Enterprise Region) program family, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research funded eight thematically open individual programs to promote research and innovation in eastern Germany from 1999 to 2022. In total, more than 500 regional innovation initiatives were supported with a total of over two billion euros. To celebrate the outstanding results of the programs and to initiate discussions on new topics for the future, Leibniz HKI as well as Fraunhofer IOF invited to a festive symposium at the Beutenberg Campus in Jena on July 20, 2023.

The program family made it possible to support two essential subject areas that have a great tradition in the Jena region in particular: optics and precision mechanics on the one hand, and infection and active ingredient research on the other. Through diverse and interdisciplinary alliances that had emerged from the "Unternehmen Region" programs, numerous new impulses could be set in these fields, which at the same time became sources of ideas for application-oriented research throughout Germany. In particular, cross-institutional programs such as the centers for innovation competence Septomics and ultraoptics, the research consortium InfectControl, the research alliance 3Dsensation, and the growth cores fo+ and Tailored Optical Fibers (TOF) formed the cornerstones for numerous new research topics and cooperation platforms.

On July 20, 2023, the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology e. V. Hans Knöll Institute HKI and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF invited to celebrate the outstanding results of the program family "Unternehmen Region" at a festive symposium. Furthermore, discussions on new future topics were initiated and ideas were discussed on how to further promote the positive further development of the innovation ecosystem Jena. Numerous guests from science, business and politics exchanged views on the successful funding formats and the diverse impulses that the programs and alliances have set in the region as well as nationwide. In addition to the speeches, highlights included a tour of the two institutes' modern research infrastructures.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the largest and most capable space telescope ever launched into space. It started its journey to the stars on December 25. The telescope is expected to provide groundbreaking insights into scientific deep space sensing and the early history of the universe - and perhaps even discover life in space. On board: high-precision mirrors manufactured at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena.

For more than ten years, astronomers have been eagerly awaiting the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. It will succeed the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been stationed in space since 1990, and will provide an even deeper and more brilliant view of the universe than its prominent predecessor.

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Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced the winners of the German Future Prize 2020 in a ceremony on November 25, 2020, this year on a smaller scale than usual due to the corona virus pandemic. For their project "EUV Lithography - New Light for the Digital Age", the German President awarded his prize for technology and innovation to the team of experts led by Dr. Peter Kürz (ZEISS), Dr. Michael Kösters, (TRUMPF), and Dr. Sergiy Yulin (Fraunhofer IOF).

In addition to the innovation performance, the top-class jury also evaluates the economic and social potential of the development. This is the ninth time that Fraunhofer has received the German Future Prize and it is the third time the prize went to the Jena-based Fraunhofer IOF. The German Future Prize has been awarded annually since 1997, is one of the most important scientific awards in Germany and carries a purse of 250,000 euros. It honors outstanding technical, engineering and scientific achievements that lead to products ready for application.

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The Jena-based start-up SPACEOPTIX has been awarded the Thuringian Innovation Prize 2020 in the "Light and Life" category. The company, which was founded as recently as this year, develops optical components and systems for applications in the aerospace industry. The start-up emerged from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF. The spin-off was supported by the "Digital Innovation Hub Photonics" (DIHP), an initiative to promote start-ups in the field of optics and photonics.

further information about SPACEOPTIX

At the latest since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in 2010 for research into graphene, 2D materials have been the focus of scientific attention. This is because these materials, which consist of only one layer of atoms, offer great potential for applications in very different fields due to their low thickness and versatile properties. In combination with optical waveguides, for example, 2D materials with outstanding optical properties enable entirely new applications in the fields of sensor technology, nonlinear optics and quantum electronics. However, bringing the two components together has so far been very complex. This is because the ultra-thin layers usually had to be produced separately and then transferred to the waveguide by hand.

Jena researchers, together with Australian colleagues, have now succeeded in growing 2D materials directly on optical fibers for the first time. This significantly simplifies the production of such hybrid nanomaterials. The team reports on their findings in the research journal "Advanced Materials".

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To avoid having to wire premature babies unnecessarily for medical examinations, researchers from Jena and Ilmenau have developed a technology of contactless 3D measurement. The core of the concept is an optical sensor that can measure vital parameters such as heart rate, blood oxygen content and respiratory volume by combining high-resolution 3D measurement technology and nano-optical filters. The measurement is performed without connecting the newborn to any devices or cables and at a distance of a few meters.

For their research idea, Jan Sperrhake (Friedrich Schiller University Jena) and his team members Chen Zhang (Ilmenau University of Technology) and Maria Nisser (Jena University Hospital) received the Edmund Optics Educational Award in the "Gold" category. The award, which comes with 7,000 euros in prize money, was presented to the winning team by representatives of the optics supplier on the morning of March 4, 2020 at the Abbe Center of Photonics in Jena.

Further information in German

Quantum imaging is a diverse field of research that promises highly efficient imaging in extreme spectral regions as well as microscopy at the lowest light intensities. Since the first proof-of-concept experiments over 30 years ago, the field has evolved from more science-driven research to the threshold of numerous real-world application scenarios for imaging and microscopy. Fraunhofer IOF scientists provide an overview of promising approaches to quantum imaging and their prospects for future practical use in the journal Laser & Photonics Reviews.

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Light is capable of so much more! A team from the University of Jena and other research institutions wants to further demystify the secrets of optics. The German Research Foundation (DFG) has now approved Collaborative Research Center 1375 "Nonlinear Optics down to Atomic scales"; NOA for short. The team led by physicist Prof. Dr. Ulf Peschel and chemist Prof. Dr. Stefanie Gräfe will receive funding of around nine million euros for an initial period of four years. The large-scale research project will start on July 1.

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