20 years Laser-Laboratorium Göttingen e.V.

Functions right around the competence in laser light – 20 years Laser-Laboratorium in Göttingen (LLG) – these are also 20 years of developing and extending pure research and competence with regard to laser light in the region. On this occasion, the managing director of LLG, Prof. Dr. Gerd Marowsky and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Troe, chairman of the sponsoring association LLG, invite to functions in Göttingen in April 2007. On Wednesday, 25 April, Wolfgang Meyer, Lord Mayor of the city of Göttingen, greets the international guests in the historic Old City Hall. In the following morning, speeches and lectures will be the centre of attention. After greetings by Lutz Stratmann, Minister of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, as well as by Paul Dubois, ambassador of Canada in Germany, the programme will be characterized by top-class expert lectures by Prof. Paul B. Corkum, Canada, Prof. Yaron Silberberg, Israel and Prof. Jürgen Wolfrum, Heidelberg. The subjects include microscopy and spectroscopy with femtoseconds, the role of lasers in environmental protection and in biotechnology as well as the world of atto-seconds. This subject is particularly exciting, because research is still in the beginning of finding its way into this new dimension in time. Atto-seconds are a trillionth part of a second (10^-18s) and facilitate insights into the behaviour of the atomic and molecular basic keystones of our world.

At the end of the sequence of events, a “Young Scientists’ International Workshop“ will take place, dealing with the subject of Applied Photonics and mainly directed towards young research workers and scientists.

Further information and registration forms can be found under: gmarowsgwdg.de

In order to support laser research in Göttingen, in 1987, the sponsoring association was founded which now runs the Laser-Laboratorium Göttingen as special-purpose enterprise with the support of the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony (MWK). The purpose of the association is application-orientated basic research in the area of laser and laser applications. Apart from the yearly payments by the state through the MWK, the Laboratory derives revenue from national third-party projects and from selling services and equipment to private customers worldwide.

Quite from the beginning, the association has cooperated with the local Max-Planck Institutes, the institutes of the scientific faculties of the Georg-August University Göttingen as well as with the industry of precision mechanics and optics. Furthermore, LLG founded the Laser-Laboratorium Göttingen GmbH in the year 2002. Its target is to open up new areas of operation in the field of optical technologies and to promote the transfer of technology and know-how between industry and science. Besides the marketing of its services and products, the Laser-Laboratorium has already got various spin-offs successfully under way.

The subjects of LLG – both of the registered association (e.V.) as well as of the GmbH – are red-hot and reflect the central subjects of state-of-the-art technology and inter-technology cross-section measures: They can also be found in the subject canon of the “High tech strategy for Germany” which will be sponsored by the federal government until the year 2009. In addition, LLG is a member of the group “Measurement Valley e.V.” 40 companies from the sectors optics, mechatronics, measurement and medical engineering resident in the Göttingen region belong to this association.

G. Marowsky (March 2007)