On May 30th, 2016, the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. and the Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Optik und Feinmechanik (IOF) opened up the Center for Optical Coatings and Metrology (COMET).

The inauguration event in Jena was the official kick-off of a strategic cooperation between the Laser Components Department of the LZH and the Optical Coatings Department of the IOF within the frame of the Center for Optical Coatings and Metrology.

Three million US dollar for a sensational scientific breakthrough: The Selection Committee of the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics announced the award of a Special Breakthrough Prize for the first detection of a gravitational wave. Besides the founders of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) Prof. em. Ronald W. P. Drever, Prof. em. Kip S. Thome and Prof. em. Rainer Weiss, 1012 contributors share the award. Among the laureates are also several scientists from the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH).

For the examination of coronary blood vessels, intravascular methods with imaging technologies are already state-of-the-art. However, ultrasonic methods, which are used to gather information about the tissue, can only be used externally, up to now. The piezo electronical components necessary for this have not been sufficiently miniaturized to be inserted into the blood vessels. The Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology would like to change this. This group of researchers are thus working on an opto-acoustical sensor for medical ultrasonic technology.

Individual manufacturing, efficient processes, three-dimensional lightweight construction, smart parts: At the Hannover Messe from 25 to 29 April 2016, the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) will present current research for the technology of tomorrow. Under the motto “The laser – tool for innovations” the LZH will again be exhibiting at  the Pavilion of the State of Lower Saxony in hall 2, stand A08.

So far, the established methods for an efficient and cell-preserving transfection in high-throughput screening lead to unsatisfactory results. Within the scope of a project of the Industrial Joint Research (IFG), the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) and its partners succeeded in developing a functional model for a gold nanoparticle-based laser transfection in high-throughput.

An international researcher team of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), the Albert Einstein Institute (AEI) Hannover and many other institutions have proven Albert Einstein‘s theory of general relativity 100 years after its development: they succeeded in recording the merger of two black holes. The resulting gravitational wave was measured already in September 2015; yesterday, the evaluation of the data was published in the Physical Review Letters and presented to the world press.

A compact, energy-efficient laser system for precise measurements and for the medical market – the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) was working together with three partners in the Eurostars project CELL-UV to achieve this. The scientists at the LZH have improved the functional coatings of the optics used in order to increase the output power and efficiency of existing laser sources in the UV range (355 nm).

Up to now, presbyopia is usually treated by wearing reading glasses. Different methods have also been tested to correct this form of defective vision with the laser. Now, the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) is developing a virtual model together with two project partners, in which an especially gentle, laser-based surgical method can be simulated. In the so called fs-lentotomy method, the crystalline lens is made flexible again by performing micro-cuts with a femtosecond laser. The aim of the RayFEye project is to make the results of the eye surgery predictable.

The Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) is working on three subprojects in the new research priority “Hybrid Numerical Optics” of the Hannover Centre for Optical Technologies (HOT) of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover. This priority is being supported by the funding initiative „Niedersächsisches Vorab“ with almost one million Euros until the fall of 2018.

The Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. carries out successful and innovative research and development in the three focus areas optical components and systems, optical production technologies and biomedical photonics. An important field of activity of the research institute is transferring knowledge to industry. But how exactly is the LZH supporting partners in industry and small and medium-sized enterprises? Which services offers the LZH to its customers? Answers to these and other questions can be found in the new services for industry portfolio that is now available on the LZH website.