11-12 May 2022
EPIC Meeting on Advanced Microoptics: Simulation, Fabrication & Characterization at Nanoscribe
Karlsruhe, Germany

Hosted by


The purpose of this meeting is to connect the supply chain of advanced manufacturing of microoptics with use cases in different application fields, such as CMOS image sensors, automotive lighting, AR/VR, medical, datacom, consumer electronics etc. Some manufacturing processes will also be discussed from large area master fabrication to additive manufacturing with nm-scale resolution. Furthermore, material challenges as well quantitative optical/surface measurements and lens shape fidelity, will be discussed.

Participation at this event is limited to 1 person per company.

The participants biographies, photos and companies descriptions are available HERE

Agenda

Tuesday, 10 May, 2022 

19:00 – 22:00 Dinner for early arrivers @ DOM Grill Kitchen Bar (Hirschhof 5, 76133, Karlsruhe) (optional, pre-registration needed). List of registered participants available HERE.

Wednesday, 11 May, 2022

11:30 Bus transfer from Hotel Ambassador (Hirschstraße 34, 76133, Karlsruhe) to Nanoscribe (Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 6, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen) (optional)

12:00 – 13:00 Arrivals, registration, lunch @ Nanoscribe

13:00 – 13:15 Introduction, welcome speeches by host and EPIC

  • Welcoming words by Carlos Lee, Director General at EPIC – European Photonics Industry Consortium (Belgium)
  • Welcoming words by Martin Hermatschweiler, CEO & Co-Founder at Nanoscribe (Germany)
  • Housekeeping by Jeremy Picot – Clemente, Photonics Technologies Manager at EPIC – European Photonics Industry Consortium (France)

SESSION 1: DESIGN TOOLS FOR ADVANCED MICRO-OPTICAL SYSTEMS

13:15 – 13:45 KEYNOTE: Freeform Micro-Optical Elements on Light Management Foils – Claude Leiner, Senior Scientist at JOANNEUM RESEARCH (Austria)

13:45 – 14:00 Examples of Flat Optics Designs – Frank Wyrowski, President at LightTrans (Germany)

14:00 – 14:15 Inverse Design for Advanced Nano-Photonic Components – Jens Niegemann, Lead R&D Engineer at Ansys (Canada)

14:15 – 14:30 Design and Wafer-Scale Manufacture of Advanced Freeform Micro-Optics for Laser Applications – Natalia Trela, Head of Solutions at PowerPhotonic (United Kingdom)

14:30 – 14:45 From Nanometer Scale to Kilometer Scale – Process Routes from Nanofabrication to Mass Replication by Nanoimprint Technologies – Christoph Baum, Executive Director at Fraunhofer IPT (Germany)

14:45 – 15:30 Coffee break

SESSION 2: FABRICATION TECHNIQUES FOR INNOVATIVE REFRACTIVE AND DIFFRACTIVE MICROOPTICS

15:30 – 16:00 KEYNOTE: Additive Manufacturing for Industrial Micro-Optics Production – Michael Thiel, CSO & Co-Founder at Nanoscribe (Germany)

16:00 – 16:15 Complex 3D Printed Micro-Optics: Fundamentals and First Applications – Harald Gießen, Professor at University of Stuttgart  (Germany)

16:15 – 16:30  Wafer-Level Manufacturing of Micro-Optics – Wilfried Noell, Director R&D at SUSS MicroOptics (Switzerland)

16:30 – 16:45 2.5D and 3D Micro-Structures with Maskless Laser Lithography – Dominique Colle, Process & Application Engineer at Heidelberg Instruments (Germany)

16:45 – 17:00 3D Printing for Advanced Glass Miniaturized and Micro-Optics – Rolando Ferrini, Chief Regional Officer at FEMTOprint & Andrea Lovera, Chief Technology Officer at FEMTOprint (Switzerland)

17:15 Bus transfer to the dinner place

17:45 – 22:00 Networking Dinner @ Das Hotel-Restaurant Hoepfner-Burghof (Haid-und-Neu-Straße 18, 76131, Karlsruhe)

22:00 Bus transfer from Das Hotel-Restaurant Hoepfner-Burghof to Hotel Ambassador (optional)

22:00 – 23:30 Guided tour from the dinner place to Ambassador hotel hosted by Nanoscribe (optional). Registration is available during the 1st coffee break at the EPIC help desk. Max. group size is up to 30 people.

 

Thursday, 12 May, 2022 

08:00 Bus transfer from Hotel Ambassador to Nanoscribe

08:30 – 09:10 Welcome coffee

09:10 – 09:15 Welcoming words of day 2 by EPIC

SESSION 3: MASS MANUFACTURING BY REPLICATION TECHNOLOGIES

09:15 – 09:45 KEYNOTE: Transfer and Upscaling of Micro and Nanostructures to Moulding Tools and Roll to Roll Processes, General Overview – Marek Krehel, Director of Technologies and R&D at 3D AG (Switzerland)

09:45 – 10:00 Low Absorption Coatings on Transmissive Micro-Optics – Konstantinas Zakalskis, Business Development Manager at OPTOMAN (Lithuania)

10:00 – 10:15 Monolithic Molding of Freeform Glass Micro-Optics – Andrea Kneidinger, Business Development Manager at EV Group (Austria)

10:15 – 10:30 DPI – On Axis Diamond Turning of Full 8” Masters – Marc Wielandts, CEO at WIELANDTS UPMT (Belgium)

10:30 – 10:45 In-Process Metrology for Microlenses Using Confocal Microscopy – Jürgen Valentin, Head of Technology and Innovation at Nanofocus (Germany)

10:45 – 11:00 On-Flight, In-Line, and In-Situ during Manufacturing Process Micro-Optic Characterization by Digital Holography Microscopy (DHM) – Yves Emery, CEO at Lyncée Tec (Switzerland)

11:00 – 11:45 Coffee break

SESSION 4: MATERIAL CHALLENGES & NOVEL APPLICATIONS

11:45 – 12:00 3D Printing & Injection Molding of Fused Silica Glass – Patrick Risch, Head of Manufacturing at Glassomer (Germany)

12:00 – 12:15 Deterministic Diffusers for Efficient Light-Shaping – Robert Leitel, Group Leader at Fraunhofer IOF (Germany)

12:15 – 12:30 Advanced Materials for Wafer-Level Micro-Optics – Stephan Prinz, Product Manager at DELO (Germany)

12:30 – 12:45 Integrated structured illumination concepts by complex optical 3d-printing – Sören Schmidt, Optical System Engineer, Carl Zeiss (Germany)

12:45 – 13:00 Closing words by EPIC

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 15:30 Company visit

15:40 Bus transfer from Nanoscribe to Frankfurt airport (optional)

Hotel & Transportation

IMPORTANT: due to the big conference happening in Karlsruhe at the same time, we recommend you to book your hotel as soon as possible.

The transfers will be organized to/from Nanoscribe/main dinner place from/to HOTEL AMBASSADOR (address: Hirschstraße 34, 76133, Karlsruhe). Please book this hotel or some other hotel nearby.

Update 29/04/2022: for 11-12 May based on booking.com there are still rooms at these hotels within 500 m from Hotel Ambassador:

If there will be not enough of rooms for you to book around here, we will organize an additional transfer from other place agreed. Please inform us about this issue by neringa.norbutaite@epic-photonics.com and we will select another hotel for transfers organized. Thank you for your understanding.

For those arriving with their own cars: 

MAP of the Nanoscribe site is available HERE. Parking is available at visitor parkings marked in number 5 (2 of them, further one usually has spaces). Entrance to the building – number 1. Cars may be left in the parking overnight, if needed.

Additional information

By registering for the event, participants agree to be photographed. Photos will be shared publicly.

Speakers

Martin Hermatschweiler (CEO) is co-founder and CEO of Nanoscribe ever since the company was founded in 2007. His main task is driving the company’s growth, particularly through the development of new markets. The scientific expertise of the graduate physicist lies in laser patterning of polymers as well as surface coating techniques based on semiconductor processes. In 2015, he has been listed among the TOP 40 entrepreneurs within Germany younger than 40 years by the journal “Capital”, the so-called “young elite”

CEO & Co-Founder at Nanoscribe

Dr. Michael Thiel (CSO) is co-founder, authorized officer and Chief Science Officer (CSO) of Nanoscribe. His focus lies on driving technical innovations in research and development. As a graduate physicist he earned his PhD at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 3D laser lithography and received the KIT PhD Award in 2011 for his work. Michael Thiel is INSEAD alumnus since 2015. In 2016, he was chosen to be one of Germany’s best innovators under 35. In the same year, he received the European CTO of the year 2016 award.

CSO & Co-Founder at Nanoscribe

Wilfried Noell (Director R&D, SUSS MicroOptics SA) is responsible for R&D projects, advanced technology, optical designs and special client requests with his dedicated team of scientists and engineers. Before joining SUSS MicroOptics, he was an R&D scientist and process engineer in the industrial x-ray business unit of the COMET AG, Switzerland. From 1994 through 2012, he worked on InP PICs, Silicon Photonics (SiPH), Optical MEMS (MOEMS) and MEMS actuators at TU Darmstadt, IMM Mainz, IMT/Uni Neuchâtel and EPFL, Switzerland, respectively. Since 2021, he is a member of the Swiss NTN Photonics Innovation Board.

Rolando Ferrini (Chief Regional Officer & Head of FEMTOprint Neuchâtel) joined FEMTOprint in 2022 as Chief Regional Officer and Head of FEMTOprint Neuchâtel, the new subsidiary devoted to photonic-related microdevices in glass. In 1999, he obtained his PhD degree in Physics at the Università degli Studi di Pavia, Italy, with a thesis on the optical properties of III-V semiconductor materials for electronics and optoelectronics. From 2000 to 2004, he worked as Research Associate at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland, where he studied the optical properties of semiconductor-based photonic crystal devices. From 2004 to 2011, as Senior Research Associate at EPFL, he was in charge of the activities on organic devices for optics, photonics and lighting. From 2011 to 2022, he worked at CSEM as Group Leader MicroNano Optics and in 2021 as Head of the Focus Area Photonics. From 2020 to 2021, he founded the PHABULOuS pilot line for the manufacturing of freeform micro-optical components, acting both as project coordinator of the related H2020 project and as Managing Director.

Chief Regional Officer at FEMTOprint

Andrea Lovera (Chief Technology Officer) received a BS in Physics Engineering in 2007 and a MS in Micro- and Nanotechnologies for Integrated Systems in 2009. From 2010 to 2014, he worked on a PhD in the Photonics domain at the Nano-photonics and Metrology Laboratory of the EPFL, where he gained experience in laser-matter interaction and nanofabrication and was also involved in the European Project SPEDOC for surface plasmon early detection of heat shock proteins. In 2014, Andrea joined the newly incorporated startup FEMTOprint as Field Engineer and worked on the development of the microfabrication platform and process. Thanks to the significant contribution to mature the technology, he helped the company in adapting the business model and further expanding. From 2016, Andrea is leading the R&D department of FEMTOprint and supervising production and machine development groups. He is currently the project coordinator of two European projects and deeply involved in the definition of the strategic evolution of the company.

Chief Technology Officer at FEMTOprint

Frank Wyrowski (President) co-founded the company LightTrans in 1999 and the company Wyrowski Photonics in 2014. He has been professor of technical physics at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and head of the Applied Computational Optics Group since 1996. His work as entrepreneur, researcher and teacher is dedicated to developing fast physical-optics techniques and software to address the increasing demand to overcome the limitations of ray optics in modern optics and photonics applications. Customers worldwide benefit from his engagement through the companies´ consulting and engineering services, and the commercial optical design software VirtualLab Fusion. Current R&D topics include applications like lightguides for AR&VR, light shaping, microscopy, interferometry, fiber coupling, diffractive and meta lenses, DOE, HOE, freeform, microlens arrays and physical optics theory in general.

Jürgen Valentin (Head of Technology and Innovation) studied physics (diploma 1993) with a focus on materials science after training and practical work as a materials tester at Siemens AG. Jürgen Valentin was involved in founding and building up several companies in the field of optical metrology. As co-founder of NanoFocus AG and long-time technical director (2001-2017), he laid the foundation for innovative new optical measurement methods and new applications with resolutions down to the nanometre range. Since 2014, Jürgen Valentin has been involved in the industrial steering committee of VDMA Photonics, in addition to other activities in innovation and entrepreneurial networks.

Head of Technology and Innovation at Nanofocus

Stephan Prinz (Product Manager) is the responsible product manager for high-performance optical polymers at DELO Industrial Adhesives. He obtained his M.Sc. in optics and photonics from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in physics from Technical University of Munich. For seven years he developed cutting-edge ultra-short pulsed laser systems at TRUMPF for scientific applications like attosecond metrology or multiphoton spectroscopy. Stephan joined DELO in 2020 where he is now in charge of the company’s strategic development in the field of micro- and nano-optical applications.

Product Manager at DELO

Marc Wielandts (CEO) decided to develop, patent and commercialize the DPI™ technology by founding Wielandts UPMT in September 2013. Marc has gained experience as engineer, project manager and mechatronics department manager for AMOS (Belgium), successfully piloting many optomechanical projects for space and astronomy. He was General Manager of Nanoshape, an AMOS subsidiary that became a reference partner for ultra-precision machining, especially in the field of multi aspheric mirror assemblies for space instruments.

Marek Krehel (Director of Technologies and R&D) received his doctoral title from ETH Zurich for his work at Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratory for Material Science and Technology) on application of polymeric optical fibers in biomedical sensing. After finishing the doctoral studies, he continued his career in academia at University of Applied Sciences Lucerne with the main research interest focused on non-imaging optics with utilization of the daylight in architecture. In 2017 he joined the team of 3D AG, micro and nanotechnology tooling center. After three years of working in the field as project engineer, he changed to the position of director of technology R&D where he oversees the company's technology and supports its constant growth.

Director of Technologies and R&D at 3D AG

Andrea Kneidinger is Business Development Manager at EV Group, where she focuses on Micro- and Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) Technology for a variety of applications, in particular nanophotonics and wafer level optics. Andrea received the master´s degree (M.Eng) from the Deggendorf Institute of Technology and Budapest University of Technology and Economics where she studied "Technology and Innovation Management". She has several years of professional experience in electrical engineering as well as product management - especially in materials, optics and photonics.

Business Development Manager at EV Group

Head of Manufacturing, responsible for the development and the production within Glassomer. Obtained his master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Process Technology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2017. Multidisciplinary background in the additive and mass manufacturing of several materials, especially on special-purpose glasses for optics and photonics.

Head of Manufacturing at Glassomer

Natalia Trela-McDonald (Head of Solutions at PowerPhotonic) is leading new product-, process- and metrology development, specializing in design, simulation and development of freeform micro-optics for laser applications including beam shaping for material processing, direct diode systems, telecom systems and medical devices. Prior to joining PowerPhotonic, Natalia was a Research Associate at Heriot-Watt University. In this role, she worked on high power diode lasers and micro-optics for beam combining and fibre coupling, including projects with high profile industrial partners. Natalia's work has led to a number of published papers and patent applications.

Head of Solutions at PowerPhotonic

Dominique Collé (Process & Application Engineer) studied Mathematics in Nancy (France). He started to work for Heidelberg Instruments as a field service engineer in Taiwan. He moved to the headquarters in Germany where he became a process and application engineer, giving system demonstration and fabricating samples for potential customers. He likes to find simple solution to complex issues and specialized in grayscale lithography.

Process & Application Engineer at Heidelberg Instruments

Claude Leiner (Scientist) in 2011 received his diploma in Physics and in 2015 he finished his doctoral studies about multiscale optical simulations at the Karl-Franzens-University of Graz. Since 2014 he is working at JOANNEUM RESEARCH, where he became senior scientist in 2019. He is specialized in optical simulation methods, multi-scale simulations and the calculation of extremely flat optical free-form structures.

Claude Leiner
Representative at JOANNEUM RESEARCH

Jens Niegemann (Lead R&D Engineer) is a Lead R&D Engineer at Ansys where he focuses on the development and implementation of efficient algorithms for photonic simulations. Jens Niegemann received his PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany and has contributed to over 50 peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.

Lead R&D Engineer at Ansys

Harald Giessen graduated from Kaiserslautern University with a diploma in Physics and obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona in 1995 as J.W. Fulbright scholar. After a postdoc at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart he moved to Marburg as assistant professor. From 2001-2004, he was associate professor at the University of Bonn. Since 2005, he is full professor and holds the Chair for Ultrafast Nanooptics in the Department of Physics at the University of Stuttgart. He is also co-chair of the Stuttgart Center of Photonics Engineering, SCoPE. He was guest researcher at the University of Cambridge, and guest professor at the University of Innsbruck and the University of Sydney, at A*Star, Singapore, as well as at Beijing University of Technology.

Harald Gießen

Konstantinas Zakalskis (Business Development Manager) is curious on learning about new technologies. After Nuclear Energy Physics studies his career took turn to Photonics. Learning the ropes of laser technology in one of the oldest Lithuanian laser manufacturing companies, for 6 years Konstantinas worked in laser system sales across the world. Generally passionate about photonics application, his career took another turn. At Optoman, as business development manager, he gets to seek for possible collaborations between companies. He is looking for solutions related not only with laser applications but within lasers as well.

Business Development Manager at OPTOMAN

Robert Leitel (Group Leader) graduated from University of Jena in physics on inhomogenous dielectric thin-film coatings and received his PhD degree in 2008 on the formation and characterization of stochastic subwavelength structures on polymer surfaces for antireflection purposes. Since 2009, he is with the microtechnology group of the micro-optical systems department and is familiar with the entire process chain based on photolithographic mastering, replication by UV-molding, RIE etching, and stacking for the generation of wafer-level optics. He is heading the group “Advanced Micro-Optical Components”.

Group Leader at Fraunhofer IOF

Yves Emery (CEO) holds a PhD in Physics (Optics) and a Business Administration Postgraduate certificate (HEC-UNIL). Prior to Lyncée, he has worked several years as Director of R&D and production in two start-ups active in the field of medical devices. His experience enables him to understand production, quality, and researchers’ issues and to develop products in accordance with customers’ needs over a very wide spectrum of technologies and markets.

CEO and Co-Founder at Lyncée Tec

Christoph Baum is the Managing Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT since June 2018. He studied mechanical engineering in Aachen, Málaga (Spain) and Beijing (China), specializing in design and development. In addition to his diploma in engineering from RWTH Aachen University, he graduated with a Master of Science degree from Tsinghua University (China). In January 2017, he received his doctorate in engineering from RWTH Aachen University with his dissertation "Process and machine development for multi-step micro hot stamping", for which he was awarded the Borchers Medal of RWTH Aachen University. As coordinator of several international research projects, Christoph developed various technologies for the microstructuring of large surfaces and expanded the competence of the Fraunhofer IPT into the field of continuous roll-to-roll production. Christoph is co-founder of the Fraunhofer spin-off Polyscale GmbH & Co. KG and since July 2016 Managing Director of the "Forschungsgemeinschaft Ultrapräzisionstechnik e.V.".

Sören Schmidt (Optical System Engineer) studied physics at the Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena followed by a Phd-research phase with a focus on the simulation of micro-optical structures and the solution of connected inverse problems, e.g., for integrated freeform illumination concepts. After graduation he joined the optical design department at the Carl Zeiss AG. There he mainly is involved with projects for digital optical Co-Design with a focus on optical metrology and illumination design for various applications.

Optical System Engineer at ZEISS
Attendees
Sponsors
Gold
Silver
Supported By
Programme Manager
Coordination
Jeremy Picot-Clemente, PhD
Jeremy Picot-Clemente, PhD
Technology Expert for Optics and Optical Systems
Event Manager
Logistics, venue, accommodation, and transportation
Neringa Noreikiene
Neringa Noreikiene
Events Manager
Related
Market Reports

Related
Past Events