Lasers & Sources

German Future Prize goes to team developing ultrashort pulse lasers for materials processing

Dec. 4, 2013

Berlin, Germany--At an gala evening ceremony, German President Joachim Gauck awarded the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2013, the German Future Prize, to a team of researchers from Robert Bosch, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena/Fraunhofer IOF, and TRUMPF Laser.

Conard Holton

Berlin, Germany--At an gala evening ceremony, German President Joachim Gauck awarded the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2013, the German Future Prize, to the project titled, Ultra-short pulse lasers for industrial mass production--manufacturing with light flashes. The winning team consists of researchers from Robert Bosch (Schwieberdingen), Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena/Fraunhofer IOF (Jena), and TRUMPF Laser (Schramberg). The scientists developed an ultrashort pulse laser for extremely precise and reliable machining of material.

Members of the winning team were Dr. rer. nat. Jens König from Robert Bosch, Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Stefan Nolte from Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena and Fraunhofer IOF, and Dr. sc. nat. Dirk Sutter from TRUMPF Laser. In the competitive nomination process, CEOs or chairmen of German scientific and business institutions proposed up to three projects to the German President's Office. In a series of meetings, the jury categorizes the submissions and decides on the three or four innovations that will make it to the final round based on innovative research and marketablility. The prize is endowed with Euro 250,000 and is one of Germany's most prestigious science awards.

Other teams in the competition included Coherent LaserSystems (Göttingen), which developed a pulsed UV laser system to produce large, thin layers of polysilicon to be used in high-resolution mobile displays for smartphones and tablets. And a team from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (Munich) and Philips Technologie (Aachen) that has developed an energy-saving solid-state chemistry for white light-emitting LEDs.

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.