Professor Sir David Payne of the University of Southampton is the eighth recipient of the Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis. The jury of renowned international experts and industry leaders recognized Sir David’s work on the erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and his pioneering research in fiber optics technology. 

Since the 1970s Sir David’s work spans many diverse areas of photonics, from telecommunications and optical sensors to nano photonics and optical materials. With his colleagues at the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Center he has made many of the key technical achievements in almost every area of optical fiber technologies and his work has had a direct impact on worldwide telecommunications, as well as nearly all fields of optical R&D. He is particularly noted for work on the erbium-doped fiber amplifier in telecommunications and high-power fiber lasers in material processing.

The Berthold Leibinger Stiftung presents professor Sir David Payne with the Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis, also recognizing Sir David’s entrepreneurial spirit in initiating and sparking commercialization by founding a number of start-up companies, as well as his numerous collaborations with well-established tech-companies.

The award ceremony of the Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis and Zukunftspreis 2020 has to be postponed for the second time. It will finally take place on Friday, September 24, 2021 in Ditzingen. Bringing together many people from different countries to celebrate outstanding innovations in laser technology would still be impossible to achieve in June. 

The Zukunftspreis prize winner and all eight finalists of the innovation prize will be honored, and the three prize winners will finally be announced. (Source: BLS)