Lasers & Sources

Leibinger Future and Innovation prizes awarded for outstanding work in lasers

Oct. 1, 2014

In a gala ceremony held on September 26, on the TRUMPF campus in Ditzingen, Germany, the Berthold Leibinger Zukunftpreis (Future Prize) and Innovationspreis (Innovation Prize) were awarded.

Conard Holton

In a gala ceremony held on September 26, on the TRUMPF campus in Ditzingen, Germany, the Berthold Leibinger Zukunftpreis (Future Prize) and Innovationspreis (Innovation Prize) were awarded. The ceremony is held biennially to celebrate outstanding development and scientific work on the application or generation of laser light.

The Zukunftspreis of 30,000 euros, first awarded in 2006, went to British physicist Prof. Philip Russell, now at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (Erlangen, Germany), for his invention of and outstanding research on photonic crystal fibers (PCF). Here's a video profiling Prof. Russell and the importance of PCF:

The winners of the Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis, chosen by a jury of 11 judges from among 32 applications, were:

First Prize: Dr. Alexander A. Oraevsky, President and CEO of TomoWave Laboratories (Houston, TX) for a Laser Optoacoustic Imaging System. TomoWave Laboratories is an R&D company with broad experience and expertise in biomedical devices based on laser optoacoustic and laser ultrasonic imaging, sensing, and monitoring, as this exploratory video shows:

Second Prize: Dr. Helmut Erdl and Dr. Abdelmalek Hanafi from the BMW Group (Munich, Germany), for a Vehicular Illumination System Using Semiconductor Laser Diodes. This video shows their illuminating work:

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Third Prize: Dr. Shun-Yee Michael Liu, Prof. Hwa-yaw Tam, and Prof. Siu Lau Ho, at the Photonics Research Centre & Department of Electrical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, for Laser Sensing Network for Railway Monitoring. This video on the reseachers shows the fiber Bragg grating technology behind the sensor system:

About the Author

Conard Holton | Editor at Large

Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.