Photonics and Quantum Technologies

The photonics and quantum technologies research focus includes laser physics and optical instrumentation, quantum photonics, nano-optics and photonic materials, strong-field physics, and biophotonics. It brings together physics, chemistry, life sciences, computer science, and mathematics to develop new technologies for communication, energy, medicine, and manufacturing.

The areas of laser physics, nano-optics and photonic materials, and optical instrumentation investigate, among other things, the control of light in all its properties — with light ultimately serving scientists as a tool, trigger, and carrier of information.

The field of strong-field physics focuses on generating light with extreme properties and extraordinarily high intensities, and on its interaction with matter up to the relativistic regime. Research topics in Jena include high-power lasers, nonlinear optics, relativistic laser physics, and X-ray optics.

Biophotonics research in Jena centers on light-based technologies and their applications in the life sciences and medicine. Using advanced spectroscopic techniques, multimodal biomedical imaging, microspectroscopy, and chip-based analytics and diagnostics, broadly applicable optical measurement devices are being developed to enable detailed analysis of complex biological samples such as tissue sections, cells, viruses, and DNA/RNA.

In the field of quantum technology, research targets three main application areas: quantum communication, quantum computing, and quantum imaging & sensing. In all of these areas, optical technologies play a key role, either because photons carry quantum information or because they are used to probe quantum systems for specific tasks. Therefore, the development and advancement of optical quantum technologies is crucial to fully exploiting the potential of quantum technologies.