Karl Leo
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Karl Leo (born 10 July 1960 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) is a German physicist.
Career
[edit]Leo studied physics at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg and obtained the Diplomphysiker degree with a thesis on solar cells under supervision of Adolf Goetzberger at the Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme. In 1986 he joined the Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung in Stuttgart for a PhD under the guidance of Hans Queisser. He then joined AT&T Bell Laboratories in Holmdel (New Jersey) as a postdoctoral research associate. In 1991 he joined the RWTH Aachen as an assistant professor and obtained the Habilitation degree. In 1993 he joined the Technische Universitaet Dresden as a professor of optoelectronics. Since 2002 he has been also with the Fraunhofer-Institut für Photonische Mikrosysteme, currently as director.
Achievements
[edit]Leo works in the field of semiconductor optics and the physics of thin organic films. In 1992 he discovered Bloch oscillations in a semiconductor superlattice. His work on organic semiconductors led to Organic Light Emitting Diodes with the highest power efficiencies reported and to Organic Solar Cells with leading efficiency values.[1] In 2002 he won the Leibniz award, which is Germany's most prestigious scientific award.[2] In 2021, he was awarded the European Inventor Award in the 'Lifetime Achievement' category.[3]
Awards
[edit]- Otto Hahn Medal, Max Planck Society, 1989
- Rudolf-von-Bennigsen-Förderpreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, 1992
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, 2002
- European Inventor Award (Lifetime Achievement), 2021
References
[edit]- ^ Leading Organic Solar Cell efficiencies by Heliatek. http://www.heliatek.com/en/press/press-releases/details/heliatek-sets-new-organic-photovoltaic-world-record-efficiency-of-13-2 Archived 2018-10-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Leibniz award is the most important scientific award in Germany ("Der Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Preis ist der wichtigste Forschungsförderpreis in Deutschland.") https://www.bmbf.de/de/der-gottfried-wilhelm-leibniz-preis-575.html
- ^ Karl Leo receives the European Inventor Award 2021 in the 'Lifetime Achievement' category. Eurekalert, 18 June 2021.
