Video and Audio Data

New lasers for climate research

Weather reports, climate models or rocket launches – they all need precise data from the atmosphere. To acquire such data, scientists can use LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) systems to shoot laser beams into the sky. The backscattered light can be used to calculate wind and temperature data at altitudes of up to 100 km. A team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT and the Leibniz Institute for Atmospheric Physics IAP has developed a portable LIDAR system that works autonomously. In the future, such systems could be mass-produced and combined into networks to provide high quality climate data.

Weitere Informationen: 

• Press Release »New lasers for climate research« 
• More about our Branche »Energy Industry and Environment« 

Getting the quantum internet off the ground - Close cooperation between Fraunhofer & QuTech

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the Dutch research center QuTech unite in the fields of quantum communication and quantum information networks. The partners have now signed a memorandum of understanding and are working closely together on the development of the quantum internet as well as on knowledge transfer.

One goal is to develop a multinational quantum network in the EU. At a later stage, this is to be made available to industry and science in order to develop new products and applications and to exploit the full potential of distributed quantum computing. The partners are also planning to install the first German quantum node of a transnational quantum network at Fraunhofer ILT as stepping stone for an European approach to an entanglement-based quantum internet.

In the run-up to this cooperation, QuTech and the Fraunhofer ILT achieved a major break-thru towards realization of quantum networks – a quantum frequency converter currently setting a world record for low-noise and, in perspective, signal-to-noise performance.

Further information:

• Press Release"Fraunhofer and QuTech unite to champion quantum internet"
• Technology Focus "Quantum Technology"

A Defining Patent: 25 Years of Metallic 3D Laser Printing

A drone hovers in the sky above the Fraunhofer ILT. It films 50 employees from the “Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF)” department from above as they stand together and form the number 25. The anniversary of the basic patent for LPBF marks an occasion for a video clip: 25 years ago, only one Fraunhofer ILT researcher was actively working on the project and the patent for metallic 3D laser printing was filed in 1996. “This is an auspicious occasion for a retrospective and outlook on our technology,” Jasmin Saewe says, pleased. She has been head of the LPBF competence area at Fraunhofer ILT for several months. Today, she is in charge of around 50 employees and students.

Further information:

• Press Release “A Defining Patent: 25 Years of Metallic 3D Laser Printing”
• Making-of video on YouTube
• Service “Laser Powder Bed Fusion” at Fraunhofer ILT

A new generation of high-power ultrafast lasers for industry and research

In the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Advanced Photon Sources CAPS, 13 Fraunhofer Institutes bundle their expertise for the development of laser systems that reach highest powers with ultrashort pulses and the exploration of their application potentials. The Fraunhofer Institutes for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen and for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena contribute their competence in the development of high-power ultrafast lasers, which is combined in the cluster with the expertise of other Fraunhofer Institutes in the fields of systems technology and applications. 

Ultrafast lasers, with their very high intensity and very short pulses, can process materials with high precision. Compared to conventional industrial lasers, they allow almost unlimited three-dimensional structuring of any material. In Fraunhofer CAPS, the partners are building a basis for economical throughputs in ultrahigh precision manufacturing. The precision and quality achieved provides the competitive edge over almost any other technique. Hence, ultrafast lasers are the most versatile, wear-free tools for future digital photonic production.

Since its founding in 2018, Fraunhofer CAPS has achieved milestones and awards - and set world records in the field of high-power ultrafast laser technology. The developed lasers already exceed the 10 kW limit with pulse durations in the range of a few hundred femtoseconds. With these lasers and optimized beam guiding systems, the partners are opening the way for new applications in production, imaging, materials science and fundamental research, among others.

Partners from industry and research are invited to participate and use the new laser systems in the application laboratories in Aachen and Jena for their innovations.

Further information:

• Website Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Advanced Photon Sources CAPS
• Service “Ultrafast Lasers” at Fraunhofer ILT
• Technology Focus "Laser"