Award Ceremony
Innovation Award and Future Award
Zukunftspreis is a celebration of science and innovation, a meeting place for the laser world, pioneers, enthusiasts and everyone interested in laser technologies. Celebrate the finalists and award winners with us!
The next award ceremony will take place June 20, 2025 in Ditzingen, Germany. This will be the Friday before the LASER World of Photonics fair in Munic.
When, where, how?
Start and procedure
Date: Friday, June 20, 2025
Reception: from 4 p.m.
Ceremony: 6 p.m.
Stand-up reception: 8 p.m.
End: 11 p.m.
Address and directions
The award ceremony will take place at the headquarters of the TRUMPF Group in 71254 Ditzingen (Germany).
Navigation destination: Schuckertstr., 71254 Ditzingen.
Directions on the TRUMPF Group website.
Dress code
Business Attire
Review 2023
Around 400 guests from science, business and society, many from abroad, celebrated the five finalists and three winners of the Innovationspreis as well as the winner of the Zukunftspreis. Professor Bernhard Schölkopf from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems gave the keynote speech on the topic of artificial intelligence. The ceremony was followed by buffet and a long evening of networking.
Program
6 pm – Introduction
Dr.-Ing. E. h. Peter Leibinger
Chairman of the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung
Talk
Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schölkopf
Director of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Interactive Video Show
by Lichtfaktor
Award Presentation Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis
Light Painting Show
by Lichtfaktor
Award Presentation Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis
8 pm – Reception
11 pm – End
Alpha - Tunable Frequency Converter from Visible to Mid-Infrared
Dr. Tobias Steinle, Prof. Dr. Harald Giessen
SI Stuttgart Instruments GmbH & University of Stuttgart
The high-precision, tunable ultrafast laser platform 'Alpha' is a product line of SI Stuttgart Instruments and the result of intensive research and commercial development. The fiber-feedback optical parametric oscillator features a unique passive optical stabilization and pulse shaping scheme ans serves bioimaging, nano-spectroscopy, and visible to deep mid-ultrafast science around the world.
Laser-Driven Microdrones
Prof. Dr. Bert Hecht, Dr. Xiaofei Wu
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg & Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology
Much smaller than human red blood cells, the laser-driven microdrones contain several optical nanomotors adressed individually by circular polarization components of unfocused light fields and will enable independent steering of all six degrees of freedom in 3D. Potential applications range from life sciences to nanotechnology, such as transport and release of cargos, nanomanipulation, local probing and sensing, as well as experiments in quantum physics.
QLAS - the Photonic 3D Printer
Dr. Sofia Pazzagli, Dr. Sinan Gündogdu,
Grigory Kornilov, Prof. Dr. Tim Schröder
Humboldt-Universität Berlin & Ferdinand-Braun-Institut
Imprinting photonics elements inside glass and transparent materials is an emerging technology that is key to applications such as smart glasses, head-up displays, miniaturized sensors, and many more. 'QLAS' is a new 3D printer technology for these elements using cost and energy efficient laser diodes to produce localized refractive index changes in a glass-like transparent material.
OSEC – Tunable External-Cavity Quantum-Cascade Laser (3rd prize)
Dr. J. F. Kischkat, Dr. O. Supplie, Dr. R. Schlesinger,
N. Hahne, Prof. Dr. H. von Lilienfeld-Toal,
M. Silvestrov, A. Liero, R. Antal
Quantune Technologies GmbH
For mid-infrared spectroscopy 'OSEC', optically stable external-cavity QCL, by Quantune Technologies GmbH, combines the best of two worlds: Precise wavelength tunability and stable operation with miniture quantum-cascade lasers made from large-batch semiconductor components. 'OSEC' brings laser-based high-res MRI spectroscopy to in-line industry, consumer and health-tec application.
Remote Bio-Sensing and Diagnosis of Cardio-Pulmonary Diseases (2nd prize)
Prof. Dr. Zeev Zalevsky, Prof. Dr. Javier Garcia
Bar-Ilan University & Universitat de València & Donisi Health
The remote sensing methodology extracts nanovibrations occurring in the tissue and is capable of continously sensing various vital bio-signs, molecular concentration of chemicals in blood stream hemodynamic activity. A commercial product developed by Donisi Health was tested in large clinical trials while focusing on diagnosis of cardiopulmonary diseases such as arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure.
Direct Laser Welding of AI-Si Coated Press Hardened Steels
Prof. Dr. Shanglu Yang, Wu Tao, Dr. Wei Xu,
Dr. Jiazhi Zhang, Xuzhi Zhang
Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
An innovative laser-filler wire welding process for welding aluminium-silicon coated press hardened steels has been developed and approved by Chines car manufactures. Press hardening steels provide ultra-high strength and the capability of being formed into complex shapes, which enables the automotive industry to achieve excellent vehicle weight saving. The new process has huge potential to significantly reduce the manufacturing costs and its complexity.
Optical Frequency and Timing Distribution System
Prof. Dr. Franz X. Kärtner, Kemal Şafak,
Anan Dai, Daniel Petters
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY & University of Hamburg & Cycle GmbH
An optical pulsed timing distribution system enabling femtosecond to attosecond precision timing, initially developed for timing on km-scale X-ray free-electron lasers, has ultimately been commercialized by Cycle. Cycle’s technology brings atomic level termporal resolution from labs to scientific research infrastructures and space industry such as high energy laser systems and radar antenna facilities.
Ultra High Precision Light Sources in Fundamental Physics and Beyond (1st prize)
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Grote, Dr. Henning Vahlbruch,
Prof. Dr. Benno Willke
Cardiff University & Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics & Leibniz Universität Hannover
The detections of gravitational waves have revolutionized astronomy and our understanding of the universe. Three innovations in laser physics were essential for this breakthrough: extreme stabilization of high power lasers, generation and coherent control of squeezed vacuum fields, and novel control techniques for squeezed light application. They may also innovate other applications like quantum communications and light-based quantum computing.
Winner of the Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis Anne L’Huillier
Anne L'Huillier is a pioneer in high harmonic generation as well as attosecond physics. High harmonic generation is a non-linear phenomenon when irradiating material with very high power laser pulses. This process generates attosecond light pulses. Attosecond physics deals with light-matter interaction phenomena using attosecond light pulses to obtain dynamic processes with unprecedented time resolution. An attosecond is one billionth of a billionth of a second.
Latent Field #35
The pictures above have been individually generated by artificial intelligence. During the award ceremony they will become part of an interactive artwork.
About Artificial Intelligence
The artist Paul Bethge used the artificial intelligence "Stable Diffusion" to generate those pictures. By means of interpolations in the so-called "Latent Space", the artist creates a contextual and structural proximity between the images. The result is the fictitious merging of the duality of photons – the property of existing both as particles as well as waves.
Project Partner
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concerts or workshops, the ZKM conveys the theoretical discourses in philosophy, science, technology, politics and economics from a contemporary artistic perspective.
