Dr. Michael Steinke, former Head of the Fiber Optics Group at the LZH, received the WLT Prize of the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Lasertechnik e.V. (WLT). The presentation of the annually awarded prize took place alongside the Lasers in Manufacturing (LiM) 2019 conference in Munich.
Dr. Steinke was recognized for his scientific contributions to the development and investigation of single-frequency, high-stability fiber amplifiers for the third generation of gravitational wave detectors. Besides, Dr. Steinke was involved in the development of highly integrated fiber-based components for commercial laser systems as part of the EXIST research transfer project (phase I). In the middle of 2017, the company FiberBridge Photonics GmbH, founded as the 18th spin-off of the Laser Zentrum Hannover, emerged from the EXIST project.
Dr. Michael Steinke studied physics at the Leibniz Universität Hannover and obtained his doctorate degree there on the topic „Fiber amplifiers at 1.5 μm for gravitational wave detectors - power scaling, gain dynamics, and pump sources“ in 2015. Since 2012, Dr. Michael Steinke had been working at the Laser Zentrum Hanover e.V., first as a scientific employee, as of 2016 as Head of the Fiber Optics Group in the Laser Development Department. Since May 2019, within the scope of the Excellence Cluster Quantum Frontiers, Dr. Steinke has been working at the HITec – Hannover Institute of Technology of the Leibniz Universität Hannover as Head of the Fiber Research and Technology Group“.
About the WLT Prize
The WLT Prize is awarded annually to young research talents for outstanding accomplishments in the field of applied laser research. The Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Lasertechnik e.V. focuses on the scientific further development of laser radiation as a universal “tool”, and on opening up new interdisciplinary fields of application in optical technologies. The award is endowed with a prize money of 5,000 €.