Shaping the future with light: Laser technology offers various possible applications. Optical technologies are used in component manufacturing - from medical implants to parts of aircraft or spaceships - but also in many other areas of the health, communications or mobility industries, such as autonomous driving or medical diagnostics. Therefore, specialists in the laser and optics sector are in great demand. Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) is offering the new Bachelor's degree course "Optical Technologies: Lasers and Photonics" for this winter semester. Enrolment for last-minute students is still possible until the end of September. The degree programme is free of admission, and applicants must not complete a selection procedure.
A corresponding advanced Master's programme in "Optical Technologies" has existed at LUH for more than ten years. Still, with the new Bachelor's programme, there is now an undergraduate programme of this kind that is unique in Germany, which the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering has developed together with the Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD.
The programme is interdisciplinary and combines elements of mechanical engineering with content from mathematics, physics, chemistry, electrical engineering and computer science. "The breadth of the degree programme imparts interdisciplinary systems competence, a qualification whose importance is becoming increasingly important in industrial and academic research departments," says Prof. Dr. Uwe Morgner from the Institute of Quantum Optics and spokesperson for the PhoenixD Cluster of Excellence.
The students learn in Hannover from scientists who are at the cutting edge of research. One of the focal points of the LUH is optical technologies, and the members of the Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD conduct world-class research. In the coming years, the "OPTICUM - Optics University Center and Campus" will be built, a large new research building specifically for optical technologies. Cooperations with the Hanover Centre for Optical Technologies (HOT) or the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. offer good opportunities for student internships, student assistantships or theses.
The degree programme prepares students for various jobs in research-based companies in the optical industry. "Laser technology often works in the background and is not visible to users," explains Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Kaierle, scientific and technical director of the Laser Zentrum Hannover. "For example, no smartphone could be manufactured without laser technology."
The Bachelor's degree also enables seamless entry into the Master's degree programme in optical technologies at LUH. Alternatively, there is direct access to the new Master's programme Quantum Engineering or other Master's programmes such as Mechanical Engineering or Nanotechnology.
A strong interest in science and technology and logical and abstract thinking skills are required. A good basic understanding of mathematics and physics is also needed.
The programme is free of admission, and enrolment is possible until the end of September.
Further information on the content of the programme and enrolment at: go.lu-h.de/BA-Optical-Technologies
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Note to the editors:
For further information, please contact Mechtild Freiin v. Münchhausen, Head of the Department of Communication and Marketing and Press Officer at Leibniz Universität Hannover, by telephone at +49 511 762-5342 or by email at kommunikation@uni-hannover.de.
