News Article
Prof. Karl Leo wins Rudolf-Jaeckel-Prize
COMEDD´s director Prof. Karl Leo wins Rudolf-Jaeckel-Prize of the German Vacuum
Professor Karl Leo, director of Fraunhofer COMEDD (Center for Organic Materials and Electronic Devices Dresden) and the Institute of Applied Photophysics at the
Technical University Dresden, has been awarded with the Rudolf-Jaeckel-Prize 2012 within the Annual Conference of the German Vacuum Society (DVG). This year the conference took place from 4th to 8th of June 2012 in connection with the 14th Joint Vacuum Conference and the 12th European Vacuum Conference in Dubrovnik.
Prof. Leo has been honored because of his pioneering research work in physics of organic semiconductors and its application in optoelectronics particularly for Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLED) and large area organic solar cells. Prof. Leo sees the prize as a further stimulation for the research activities at the TU Dresden and the further transfer of them into practice at the Fraunhofer COMEDD: "I am deeply grateful for this award. It is another recognition of the work of my colleagues and me on pioneering organic technologies for fascinating applications such as displays, novel lighting, and flexible solar cells."
Furthermore OLEDs also can be integrated into microchips for the use as microdisplays in data eyeglasses or as integrated light source in sensor solutions.
The Rudolf-Jaeckel-Prize is awarded annually for outstanding achievements in the field of vacuum based sciences.
Karl Leo obtained the Diplomphysiker degree from the University of Freiburg in 1985, working with Adolf Goetzberger at the Fraunhofer-Institut fuer Solare Energiesysteme. In 1988, he obtained the PhD degree from the University of Stuttgart for a PhD thesis performed at the Max-Planck-Institut fuer Festkörperforschung in Stuttgart under supervision of Hans Queisser. From 1989 to 1991, he was postdoc at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ, U.S.A. From 1991 to 1993, he was with the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) in Aachen, Germany.
Since 1993, he is full professor of optoelectronics at the Technische Universität Dresden, since 2002, he is also working at the Fraunhofer-Institute for Photonic Microsystems, presently as director. His main interests are novel semiconductor systems like semiconducting organic thin films; with special emphasis to understand basics device principles and the optical response. His work was recognized by the following awards: Otto-Hahn-Medaille (1989), Bennigsen-Förder-Preis (1991), Leibniz-Award (2002), award of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy (2002), Manfred-von-Ardenne-Preis (2006) and Zukunftspreis of the German president (2011). He is cofounder of several companies, including Novaled AG and Heliatek GmbH.
