March 7, 2022
Prof. Bjoern Globisch, group leader of the "Terahertz Sensor Systems" research group in the Photonic Components department at the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), has won this year's Karl Scheel Prize awarded by the Physical Society of Berlin (PGzB). This regional association of the German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft e. V.) recognizes with this most prestigious prize the outstanding scientific achievements of their members made in the years immediately following their doctorate. Since 1958, the 5,000€ prize has been awarded to 80 scientists.
Bjoern Globisch has been a researcher in the field of terahertz photonics at Fraunhofer HHI since 2012. In 2017, he received his doctorate in physics from Philipps-Universitaet Marburg under Prof. Martin Koch and was promoted to group leader at Fraunhofer HHI just two months later. In this role, he leads a team of 12 scientists* and 25 bachelor's and master's students and is responsible for an annual budget of over 2.5 million euros in research funding. With his team, he researches the use of telecommunication-proven InP technology for the development of photomixers and ultrafast optical switches. The goal is to develop efficient and novel semiconductor materials to convert optical signals in the 1.5 µm wavelength range into THz radiation and detect them. The components developed in Prof. Globisch's group are now state- -of-the-art in commercial terahertz measurement systems. They can be used in the automotive and plastics industries, for example, to non-destructively and contactlessly measure the thickness of paint coatings and wall thicknesses of plastic pipes with the highest precision.
"I am very honored to receive this award from the PGzB which also reflects the fact that application-oriented research can make an important contribution to the fundamental understanding of physical relationships. In addition, this award increases the visibility of my research field, which has further applications in spectroscopy, imaging and wireless data transmission in addition to industrial process control. I look forward to further exploring the potential of this future technology," says Prof. Globisch. In addition to his work at Fraunhofer HHI, Prof. Globisch was appointed to a junior professorship in terahertz sensor technology at the Institute of Solid State Physics at Technische Universitaet Berlin (TUB) in 2019. His research interests range from terahertz photonic integrated circuits to interdisciplinary research in applied terahertz sensing (biosensing, industrial non-destructive testing) to research on wireless communication systems using carrier frequencies in the terahertz range to transmit information at extremely high data rates. His research to date has been published in a book chapter and more than 30 scientific journal articles - with a high-profile paper in Nature Communications in early 2021.
The Karl Scheel Prize 2022 will be awarded together with the associated Karl Scheel Medal in bronze during the Karl Scheel Meeting on June 24, 2022 at the Magnus House in Berlin.