Freiburg Infrared Colloquium
Freiburg Infrared Colloquium
© Fraunhofer IAF

© Fraunhofer IAF

45th Freiburg Infrared Colloquium—international infrared conference resumes its rhythm

Fraunhofer IAF would like to thank all participants and partners contributing to the exciting scientific exchange on latest research and development results on infrared technologies.

© Fraunhofer IAF

The 45th edition of the Freiburg Infrared Colloquium took place on May 16 and 17, 2023, at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF in Freiburg. About 100 international representatives from science and industry as well as experts working in the field of infrared photonics and optoelectronics came together to exchange information on the latest developments and research results.

“After two difficult years, we are pleased to resume the valuable series of infrared colloquia on a regular biennial basis. The Freiburg Infrared Colloquium provides a unique forum to discuss relevant issues related to semiconductor emitters and detectors as well as their applications in related fields such as science and security, medical diagnostics or production and environmental control,” says Dr. Robert Rehm, conference chairman and Head of Business Unit Optoelectronics at Fraunhofer IAF. 

© Fraunhofer IAF
© Fraunhofer IAF
© Fraunhofer IAF

Innovations in infrared technology

Infrared lasers and detectors are key to the development of high-performance systems for the security and aerospace sectors. Likewise, they play an increasingly important role in medical diagnostics, gas analysis and spectroscopy. To advance the research and development of infrared technologies, experts from research institutes, industry and funding agencies meet regularly at the Freiburg Infrared Colloquium.

The conference program covered both physics and materials science of infrared lasers and detectors as well as their manufacturing technologies and system aspects. Seven sessions on selected topics with a total of 28 oral presentations and one poster session with 18 poster presentations were scheduled over two days.

Researchers of Fraunhofer IAF present various latest developments of the institute in the fields of photodetectors and semiconductor lasers. Dr. Raphael Müller gave an overview of the latest research results on antimony-based infrared detectors from the extended shortwave to the longwave infrared.

Dr. Frank Rutz presented developments by the researchers on highly sensitive photodetectors to be used in a single photon camera for active SWIR (short-wave infrared) imaging. This technology is an important component for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) imaging, which is developed to explore objects even behind obstacles or outside the direct field of view, and plays a particularly important role in the fields of autonomous navigation and reconnaissance.

Quantum cascade lasers (QCL) are mid-infrared semiconductor devices with important applications in spectroscopy, security, and defense. Compact QCL modules, as realized at Fraunhofer IAF, offer high spectral resolution, excellent beam quality and output power in the watt range at room temperature. In his talk, Dr. Stefan Hugger presented Fraunhofer IAF’s latest research on quantum cascade lasers: The research team has succeeded in realizing a coherent beam combination of multiple quantum cascade lasers, which enables a significant increase in performance.

For more detailed information of the technologies presented, please take a look at the programm of the IR Colloquium 2023.

Impressions of the IR Colloquium 2023 at Fraunhofer IAF