Research Spotlights

Imagine you have an exciting new research question in mind, but there is no fitting equipment to build the setup. So why not build it yourself? This question arose to a group of young scientists from FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg. Their goal: measuring the diameter of stars. The first real image of a bla...

The Biophysics Group at FAU investigates a broad spectrum of research topics ranging from the microscopic study of proteins and cells to the macroscopic observation of penguins in Antarctica. In each field, data acquisition via cameras, microscopes, and photodetectors is combined with elaborate imag...

By combining three imaging methods, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) in Erlangen and the Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering at Dresden University of Technology have now succeeded in measuring mechanical properties of the cell interior with unprecede...

Human interaction is fundamentally based on the ability to communicate. A lasting impairment of our oral expression is necessarily accompanied by severe social and economic limitations, increasing the significance of diagnosing laryngeal and voice-related disorders. Conventionally, human vocal folds...

  The main objective of the Clinical Photonics Lab (CPL) is to explore optical technologies in biology and medicine with a focus on diagnostics. In general, there are two main approaches for diagnostics: First, the measurement of a physical parameter (e.g. the absorption coefficient at a ...

Accurate knowledge of thermophysical properties of working fluids in chemical and energy engineering is necessary for the proper design or optimization of apparatuses and processes. This aspect is linked to the subject area Thermophysical Property Research dealt within the research activities of the...

In recent years, powder- and beam-based additive manufacturing processes have successfully established in the fabrication of highly individualized, geometrically complex components. Generating functional components for series production places the highest demands on the robustness of the processes, ...

Without knowing core parameters of a process, there is not much guidance for optimizing the process itself or its outcome. This also applies to the synthesis of functional nanoparticles. In recent years and decades, the importance and utilization of such nanoparticles in scientific, medical and indu...

The laser is a universal tool in materials processing. Focusing a high-power laser to a single spot allows various applications like welding and laser-based additive manufacturing. Heating and consequent melting of the material mainly drives these processes in which the laser beam acts as a heat sou...

Product design is the formation, formulation, handling, manufacturing and characterization of complex multiphase products across all length scales from molecules to particles and complex materials and devices. The desired product properties follow the demands of a variety of applications. These incl...

  The i-MEET, namely the Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology, is dedicated to the functional aspect of electronic properties and applicability of different material classes. One research focus is the synthesis, characterization and processing of nanocrystals for optoele...

The year 2021 was the 30th anniversary of the initial proposal by Philip Russell for a novel type of optical fiber that would guide light by the newly-proposed photonic bandgap effect: photonic crystal fibers (PCF). Compared to conventional step-index fibers, the very first solid-core PCF, with arra...

Optical quantum technologies will shape the 21st century and have a profound impact on technological and economic developments worldwide. They are used in quantum communication, but also in quantum metrology and quantum computing. In Erlangen, the Department of Physics at FAU and the Max Planck ...