How can computers become even more powerful with the help of light while consuming less energy? How can we produce tiny micro-optics faster and more cost-effectively in the future? And how can findings from nano-optics be applied to the industrial use of quantum sensors? The prize winners of this year’s Applied Photonics Award are addressing these and other questions about the future. The Young Researcher Award was presented to the five award winners of 2023 on October 12 as part of the Fraunhofer IOF & Max Planck School of Photonics networking and career event Photonics Days Jena.

A jury of experts, consisting of representatives from science and industry, had previously selected the award-winning theses. A total of three theses were awarded in the categories bachelor, master/diploma and dissertation. In addition, the jury awarded two special prizes for scientific excellence this year: one for an outstanding work in the field of applied quantum technologies and one for a basic research work. The winners of the 2023 awards are:

Best Bachelor Thesis (1.000 €)
Manuel Klockow (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena) – “Evaluating Diffractive Neural Network Architectures”

Best Master Thesis (2,000 €)
Valeriia Sedova (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) – “Modeling of thick photoresist for grayscale lithography application”

Best Dissertation (3,000 €) 
Dr Vincent Hahn (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) – “3D Laser Micro- and Nanoprinting: Finer, Faster, and More Affordable”

Prize of the Jury for Applied Quantum Technologies (1,500 €) 
Philipp Reuschel (Universität Siegen) – “Vector magnetometry based on polarimetric optically-detected magnetic resonance”

Prize of the Jury for basic research work in an important future field of the modern information society (1,500 €) 
Dr Tobias Weitz (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) – “Lightwave electronics in graphene”

The Applied Photonics Award emerged from the Green Photonics Young Scientist Award – since 2018 with a new look and new content. It is awarded by the Fraunhofer IOF in Jena, Germany. This year’s award is again being presented with the support of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) and the companies Active Fiber Systems, Jenoptik, Huawei Technologies, and Trumpf.