In a New Light
Catwalk, Academy and Girls Congress
Well befitting the International Year of Light, the solar eclipse on 20 March 2015 was a reminder that without sunlight there would be no life on our planet. After millennia of passive solar harvesting, modern science has moved to the active utilisation of optical and photonic technologies. As far back as the 1960s, Adlershof has been adopting a leading position in this development.
Today, over half a dozen university and nonuniversity institutes have been pressing ahead with their research activities. These have been joined by a good seventy high tech businesses that have been set up nearby to explore all the facets of light as a tool. Their objective this year is to cast a light on their growing importance in industrial developments, power supply systems, medicine, and consumer products.
Since early March, the German Museum of Technology has been presenting the “LED catwalk” on 1500 square metres, a paradigm shift that is currently progressing through the lighting sector. LEDs make variable lighting concepts possible. They can be fitted with the most diverse optical systems, switched in any configuration, dimmed, and colour programmed. They can be configured specifically for any lighting situation, whether on a rain drenched road or inside buildings or production halls. Additive manufacturing methods are tapping into new product design potential, giving rise to unique geometries and contours, and all under the sign of maximum energy efficiency. Insights into this new world of unique lighting possibilities are presented, for instance, by the “LED plus 3D” workshop, whose organisation is shared by the optical technologies network OpTecBB.
The goal was to bring together new possibilities in lighting engineering, product design, and 3D printing and to sound out the potential for innovation at this interface. The central subject is not only lighting, but also high speed data transmission and processing. Held in mid March at the Heinrich Hertz Institute and also in Adlershof, the Photonics Academy targeted Masters students of engineering and natural sciences. Its message: big data and its transmission over fibre optics, i.e. by means of light, have now become inseparable.
These events stand as examples of a great many conferences, workshops, and competitions in Berlin that are drawing attention to the significance of optical technologies in the Year of Light. These target above all young persons. One highlight in October will be the 6th Girls Technology Congress that will be hosted under the title “GoPhoton! – Discover the power of light”. Supported in particular by the dedication of the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik, this will also present the writing competition “LichtBlicke” where contestants can enter their poems, short stories, and essays on the subject of light. In line with the motto “Licht dichten oder rappen” (“Write or rap light”), the fifteen best contributions will be recited at a concert. The competition is open to secondary school pupils in Berlin and Brandenburg.
On 9–18 October, the Year of Light is to end on a worthy note with the Festival of Lights in Berlin. Yet this jubilee year is to be honoured inside the Adlershof science location as well: this year, Bernd Ludwig, Director of the Photonics/Optics Centre, will start replacing all energy saving lamps with LEDs.
By Klaus Oberzig for Adlershof Special