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| Research Award Winners 2006 |
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Kurt Busch’s contributions to the theory of light propagation in structured materials and Martin Wegener’s experimental approaches have considerably enhanced the possibilities for the production of the three-dimensional photonic crystals. Such photonic crystals allow, for example, the efficient implementation of optical processors.
Unlike common optical materials or “normal“ crystals, optical metamaterials display exceptional properties such as, for instance, a negative refractive index. This offers extensive capabilities for the use of these materials. With their aid, “perfect“ lenses can be produced in which diffraction does not limit resolution. One conceivable possibility is new lithography techniques for the fabrication of computer chips.
 | | Kurt Busch (39) studied physics in Karlsruhe, where he also obtained his doctorate. In 2004/2005 he was Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida. He has been professor at the Institute of Theoretical Solid Body Physics at the University of Karlsruhe since April 2005. |
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 | | Martin Wegener (44) studied physics in Frankfurt/Main, where he also obtained his doctorate. After conducting research work at AT&T Laboratories in the USA (1988-1990), he held his first professorship in Dortmund. He has been working at the Institute of Applied Physics of the University of Karlsruhe since 1995. He became head of the workgroup for photonic crystals of the Karlsruhe Research Center in 2001. In 2000 Wegener received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Award of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation). |
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