Dr. Bernd Eppich
The physicist works at the Optoelectronics Department of the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik
Bernd Eppich was born in 1963 in Heilbronn. After his physics studies at TU Karlsruhe, he received his diploma about resonators for solid-state tube lasers from the Solid-State Laser Institute at TU Berlin.
During this time his investigations on the most important design criteria for resonators, the optimization of beam quality, led him to his doctoral thesis at the Optical Institute at TU Berlin, dealing with theoretical and experimental aspects of laser beam characterization. There, Bernd Eppich developed a metrological method for reconstructing the four-dimensional Wigner distribution, allowing for the entire characterization of partially coherent laser radiation with respect to its propagation behavior.
In the course of this research, he joined the working team “Definitions, Test Control Units and Testing Methods” of the DIN standards committee “Precision Mechanics and Optics” and was there the leading author of the international standard ISO 11146, which is the most important industrial standard (definition of beam quality M2) within the laser physics field.
After his Ph.D., Bernd Eppich joined the Laser-Medicine-Technology Berlin company, where he worked on methods for early recognition of rheumatism and on non-invasive blood glucose measurement. He was awarded with the BMBF Innovations Competition Prize for the “Advancement of Medical Technology” in 2000 and returned to the TU Berlin the same year conducting further research on laser characterization and for teaching activities. In 2005, he joined the Optoelectronics Department of the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik.
Current research topics
Semiconductor lasers are cost-competitive and efficient laser beam sources, which are available for a great variety of wavelengths, power classes and beam quality requirements.
In order to expand into difficultly accessible areas for monolithic devices (e.g. providing high power and excellent beam quality at the same time, wavelengths below ~630nm, extremely and stable narrow linewidths), different functional items (oscillators, amplifiers, non-linear crystals, gratings) need to be integrated into hybrid modules. Within these modules, the laser beam has to be focussed with high precision to fulfil the respective condition for coupling into the next functional unit.
Preconditions therefore are the exact experimental characterization of beam properties and the optical design, building up on these data. Bernd Eppich developed an easy to handle software solution for both tasks, that is also licensed to interested parties. The resulting matchbox-size hybrid micro modules open up new application areas for diode lasers such as in display technology, sensor technology and medical technology.