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Joint Science Conference confirms funding recommendation for "OPTICUM - Optics University Center and Campus" research building

Joint Science Conference confirms funding recommendation for "OPTICUM - Optics University Center and Campus" research building

On 2 July 2021, the Joint Science Conference (GWK) officially confirmed the funding recommendation of the Science Council of 23 April 2021. As a result, the construction of the research building "OPTICUM - Optics University Center and Campus" will be funded half by the federal government and half by the state of Lower Saxony with 54.2 million euros.

In the future, about 120 researchers from the fields of physics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, mathematics, computer science and chemistry will work together under one roof at the planned optics centre in Hanover on the digitalisation of optics research and optics production. Optical technologies are used in a wide range of applications such as smartphone cameras, online streaming via optical fibre, laser welding of car bodies and 3D imaging in medicine, making everyday digital life possible in the first place.

How the performance of these key technologies can be further developed is being researched by the scientists of the Cluster of Excellence "PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering - Innovation across Disciplines" at Leibniz Universität Hannover (LUH). Together with project partners from TU Braunschweig and Laser Zentrum Hannover e. V., the optics researchers at LUH are investigating how complex optical systems can be realised in a short development time using modern manufacturing processes - for example 3D printing - for a fraction of today''s price.

The OPTICUM is managed by the Leibniz School of Optics & Photonics (LSO), which was founded in spring 2020. The LSO is closely linked to the Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD and is equivalent to a faculty in its structure. The new research building will be constructed in the Hannover-Marienwerder Science Park. The planned, four-storey OPTICUM has a usable area of a good 4,000 square metres. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2022. Completion is planned for 2026.

Read also the press releases of the LUH (in English), the Science Council (in German) and the Joint Science Conference (in German).