Optical technologies utilize the tremendous properties of light for technical applications.

Light is a unique and fascinating phenomenon, and so are its applications.

What are optical technologies or photonics?

As this field is also called.

Photonics is the technical control of light in any form.

Photonics focuses on the generation, control, measurement and, above all, use of light in

almost all socially and economically important areas.

Light has a number of extraordinary properties.

Focusability down to the millionth part of a millimeter.

Speed of light, the highest achievable speed in the universe.

Shortest pulses up to one billionth of a billionth of a second.

Highest powers up to billions of megawatts.

Undisturbed superposition capability up to millions of megabits per second.

As our overview here shows, applications of optical technologies can be found everywhere.

For MAoT graduates, this means that they can work everywhere, in companies that specialize

in optics but also in all kinds of industry sectors.

One prominent example is the automotive industry.

Lasers cut and weld steel.

Kilometers of optical cables are needed for their internal communication systems.

Optical sensors are indispensable for autonomous driving.

No modern smartphone would be possible without optical technologies.

The wafers are produced via photolithography.

The surface glass is cut with a laser.

The display is pure optical technologies.

Not to even mention the camera.

Modern life is unimaginable without the internet.

Optical fibers are the backbone of the internet.

Nothing works on the internet without optics.

Solar cells are one of several key elements in the inevitable transformation towards a

carbon neutral and more environmentally friendly world.

Optical applications are hugely important in modern medicine.

Endoscopy is a key diagnostic tool.

Its imaging results are combined with findings from, for example, computed tomography or

magnetic resonance imaging.

Laser light and also other forms of light are increasingly used for clinical treatments.

What is the market for optical technologies?

It is certainly a smaller market compared with other traditional technologies, but it

is a growing market.

And Germany is a very strong player on the global photonics market.

The huge scientific importance of optics and optical technologies is reflected by several

Nobel Prizes connected with optical technologies.

Prizes that have been awarded in recent years include.

The importance of optics for the industrial application of scientific results is reflected

in the many projects that have been awarded the German Future Prize.

The German Future Prize is probably the most prestigious German prize for science and innovation

awarded by the federal president.

Its mission aims at scientific excellence, coupled with added value for society as a

whole.

Optics and optical technologies are one of the main study fields at FAU.

It includes an education path from bachelor to PhD, as well as key research initiatives