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Carl Zeiss presents its research award

Optics giant Carl Zeiss presented its prestigious research award at LASER today. In a ceremony rounded off with music from a woodwind trio, delegates saw Jun Ye from the University of Colorado at Boulder, US, pick up the award and a cheque for €25,000. Ye received the award “for his work on the application of femtosecond frequency combs”.

The award is presented every two years and is given to younger scientists for their achievements in basic optics research. “Research, development and innovation are very important to Carl Zeiss,” company CEO Dieter Kurz told the audience. “Carl Zeiss invests 11% of its annual revenues back into R&D.”

Ye is the tenth recipient of the award and is certainly in good company. Past winners include Eric Cornell and Ahmed Zewail, who have both gone on to receive a Nobel Prize, as well as microscopy expert Stefan Hell and blue laser/LED pioneer Shuji Nakamura.

This is the first time that Zeiss has chosen to present the award at LASER. According to Kurz, LASER is the ideal place as it attracts an international audience and showcases the achievements and innovations that see the optics industry maintaining strong and healthy growth.

Juergen Mlynek, a member of the Ernst Abbe Fund award committee, summed up Ye’s achievements before presenting the award. “Ye’s work on strontium atoms has significantly broadened the use of femtosecond frequency combs, particularly for atomic clocks,” said Mlynek. “This invaluable research will address scientific questions and at the same time find practical applications. This is also the spirit of Carl Zeiss.”

Posted by Jacqueline Hewett on June 20, 2007 10:07 PM | Permalink