German companies have shaped the optical landscape with iconic brands like Leica and Zeiss for decades. Nowadays, our everyday digital life relies on optical technologies: We use smartphone cameras to submit documents, stream movies online via optical fibres, weld cars with lasers and diagnose illnesses with 3D imaging. At Leibniz University Hannover, around 120 scientists of the Cluster of Excellence “PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering – Innovation across Disciplines” are working on the next evolutionary step – novel integrated optics. 

With the advanced technology, the researchers plan to take mechanical engineering and production processes to a new level and build a production platform. Now they have come one step closer to reach this goal. On April 23rd, the German Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat) recommended the funding of the research building OPTICUM – Optics University Center and Campus. LUH shares first place on the funding list with the universities in Marburg and Münster. The OPTICUM will be financed – subject to the Joint Science Conference’s final decision – with 54.2 million euros. The federal government and the state of Lower Saxony will each contribute half of the funding.

“Our OPTICUM will be the research building for all scientists from the disciplines of physics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, mathematics, computer science and chemistry working together on the digitalization of optics research and optics production,” says Prof Uwe Morgner. The physicist is the spokesman of the board of the PhoenixD Cluster of Excellence. "We are very pleased about the Science Council’s decision. 

The 120 optics researchers are investigating how they can realize complex optical systems in a short development time and for a fraction of today’s price. To achieve this aim, the Hanover scientists join their forces with project partners from Technical University Braunschweig and Laser Zentrum Hannover.

The planned OPTICUM has four floors and a usable area of just over 4,000 square metres. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2022. Completion is planned for 2026. (Source: LUH)