Inter­na­tio­nal Micro­op­tics Con­fe­rence in Jena

Com­pact and effi­ci­ent optics are facing an ever-gro­wing demand. Espe­ci­ally in modern cars, optics in minia­ture for­mat are incre­asingly instal­led, as there is often little space for com­pon­ents. They are also beco­ming extre­mely important for quan­tum tech­no­lo­gies. These and other fields of appli­ca­tion for micro­op­tics will be dis­cus­sed at the inter­na­tio­nal sym­po­sium “Micro­op­tics Con­fe­rence (MOC 2022)” in Jena from Sep­tem­ber 25 to 28. Regis­tra­ti­ons are now open.

From Sep­tem­ber 25 to 28, the Fraun­ho­fer-Insti­tute for Applied Optics and Pre­cis­ion Engi­nee­ring IOF, the Euro­pean Opti­cal Society and the Japan Society of Applied Phy­sics are jointly invi­ting par­ti­ci­pants to the »27th Micro­op­tics Con­fe­rence« (MOC 2022 for short). The latest results, appli­ca­ti­ons, and chal­lenges in the field of micro­op­tics will be dis­cus­sed with inter­na­tio­nal guests.

This is the second time that the tra­di­tio­nal optics loca­tion has had the honor of hos­ting the inter­na­tio­nal con­fe­rence: In 2004, Jena had alre­ady been sel­ec­ted as the venue for the event at the sug­ges­tion of the Japa­nese Society for Applied Phy­sics. In 2020, the con­fe­rence was to be held again in the city on the river Saale. Howe­ver, the event had to be post­po­ned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Micro-optics for the auto­mo­tive sec­tor and quan­tum technologies

In addi­tion to con­tri­bu­ti­ons on basic micro- and nano-opti­cal rese­arch, the lec­tures and work­shops at MOC 2022 will also cover a wide spec­trum of con­crete appli­ca­tion areas – ran­ging from new design and manu­fac­tu­ring pro­ces­ses for micro-opti­cal com­pon­ents to appli­ca­tion-ready opti­cal sys­tems in the fields of com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons, light­ing, and quan­tum sys­tems. Other con­tri­bu­ti­ons to the con­fe­rence will deal with micro-optics for mea­su­re­ment methods and sen­sor tech­no­logy as well as for dyna­mic and func­tional com­pon­ents such as MEMS, swit­ches, or modu­la­tors. Rese­ar­chers of Fraun­ho­fer IOF will pre­sent their poo­led exper­tise in the pro­duc­tion of effi­ci­ent and com­pact micro-optics for the auto­mo­tive sec­tor at the con­fe­rence. The auto­mo­tive sec­tor bene­fits in par­ti­cu­lar from minia­tu­ri­zed optics, as the demands on light out­put and func­tion­a­lity are par­ti­cu­larly high in this field. In addi­tion to strictly defi­ned dimen­si­ons, it is pri­ma­rily requi­re­ments for impro­ving the energy balance in the vehicle that define accep­tance for the use of opti­cal sys­tems in cars. The experts from Jena have thus suc­cee­ded in over­co­ming the limi­ta­ti­ons of estab­lished opti­cal tech­no­lo­gies for auto­mo­tive head­lights and signi­fi­cantly impro­ving them in terms of minia­tu­riza­tion, effi­ci­ency, and design. Various array pro­jec­tion approa­ches and the asso­cia­ted manu­fac­tu­ring tech­no­lo­gies will be presented.

Fur­ther­more, poten­tial appli­ca­ti­ons of micro-optics in minia­tu­ri­zed quan­tum sys­tems will be pre­sen­ted. At Fraun­ho­fer IOF, for exam­ple, a space-qua­li­fied source for the gene­ra­tion of ent­an­gled pho­tons has been deve­lo­ped in recent years. In the future, it is going to enable highly secure com­mu­ni­ca­tion by means of light par­tic­les, e.g., for aut­ho­ri­ties or cri­ti­cal infra­struc­ture. Fur­ther­more, rese­ar­chers from Jena are working on opti­cal sys­tems to sup­port quan­tum com­pu­ters as well as new ima­ging methods using quan­tum know-how. The con­fe­rence will con­ti­nue to be accom­pa­nied by an indus­trial exhi­bi­tion. In addi­tion, there will be oppor­tu­ni­ties to expand one’s own net­work, for exam­ple at a con­fe­rence din­ner at the Zeiss Pla­ne­ta­rium Jena.

Guests from Europe, Japan and the USA expec­ted in Jena

The “Micro­op­tics Con­fe­rence” is held annu­ally in Japan and other count­ries. It is coor­di­na­ted by the Micro­op­tics Group of the Japan Society of Applied Phy­sics. For many years, the con­fe­rence has been attrac­ting large num­bers of visi­tors and has become a cen­tral forum for micro­op­tics. Most recently, around 200 sci­en­tists from all over the world took part in the three-day, inter­na­tio­nally renow­ned event. Guests are expec­ted from Japan, the USA, and many Euro­pean count­ries. The for­mat will be imple­men­ted as a hybrid event. Par­ti­ci­pa­tion is pos­si­ble both on-site in Jena and digi­tally. The event lan­guage is English.