Topics

LIGHT? OPTICS? OPTICAL TECHNOLOGIES? PHOTONICS!

PHOTONICS refers to all tech­no­lo­gies rela­ted to light. This includes pro­ces­ses and pro­ce­du­res for the gene­ra­tion, ampli­fi­ca­tion, sha­ping, trans­mis­sion, mea­su­re­ment and uti­liza­tion of light.

Thu­rin­gia, and Jena in par­ti­cu­lar, is a hot spot for the pho­to­nics indus­try. Some 16,500 spe­cia­lists work on pho­to­nics issues in 180 com­pa­nies and num­e­rous rese­arch insti­tu­ti­ons and stand for out­stan­ding exper­tise worldwide.

Tech­no­lo­gies in the Network

  • Optics & Mechanics
  • Laser & Radia­tion sources
  • Opto­elec­tro­nics
  • Opti­cal Materials
  • Micro- & Fiber optics
  • Metro­logy & Sensors
  • Light engi­nee­ring

CLIMATE, MOBILITY, HEALTH – PHOTONICS!

The glo­bal chal­lenges of the future can only be sol­ved with PHOTONICS.

Cli­mate

Pho­to­nics com­pa­nies and rese­ar­chers in Thu­rin­gia are doing pio­nee­ring work with sen­sor solu­ti­ons as well as mea­su­ring and ana­ly­sis tech­no­logy for CO2 reduc­tion, forest pro­tec­tion and soil-con­ser­ving agriculture.

Pho­to­nics‹ con­tri­bu­tion to cli­mate pro­tec­tion should enable at least ele­ven per­cent of the glo­bally agreed C02 savings by 2030, pri­ma­rily through pho­to­vol­taics, energy-effi­ci­ent light­ing and opti­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion solutions.

Source: SPECTARIS

Mobi­lity

Traffic Lights

Cli­mate-fri­endly and inno­va­tive traf­fic solu­ti­ons – from elec­tro­mo­bi­lity and auto­no­mous dri­ving to smart mass tran­sit solu­ti­ons – rely on camera and radar sen­sors or laser-based LIDAR sys­tems. For effi­ci­ent and resource-saving manu­fac­tu­ring pro­ces­ses in the auto­mo­tive indus­try, inno­va­tive lasers are incre­asingly taking on cut­ting, wel­ding and struc­tu­ring tasks. Intel­li­gent traf­fic con­cepts for inner cities and conur­ba­ti­ons rely on pho­to­nic solu­ti­ons for con­trol and safety, e.g. for speed moni­to­ring or auto­ma­tic license plate recognition.

Health

For health rese­arch, pho­to­nic methods have the poten­tial to revo­lu­tio­nize infec­tion dia­gno­stics, for exam­ple, and win the battle against multi-resistant germs. Patho­gens and their resis­tances can be deter­mi­ned quickly and directly within two to three hours, wit­hout the need for prior, time-con­sum­ing cul­ti­va­tion of samples.

Opti­cal tech­no­lo­gies play a key role in many cases, such as in opti­cal sen­sor tech­no­logy, point-of-care solu­ti­ons or tele­me­di­cine. Wit­hout sen­si­tive detec­tion methods, the trans­mis­sion of high-reso­lu­tion images and powerful image pro­ces­sing, the digi­tal lin­king of methods and know­ledge would hardly be conceivable.