Karl Leo
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Karl Leo (born 10 July 1960 in
Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...
, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) is a German physicist.


Career

Leo studied physics at the
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg ...
and obtained the Diplomphysiker degree with a thesis on solar cells under supervision of
Adolf Goetzberger Adolf Goetzberger (29 November 1928 – 24 February 2023) was a German physicist. Life and career Goetzberger studied physics in Munich, Germany. He finished his university studies with a work over ''Über die Kristallisation aufgedampfter Anti ...
at the Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme. In 1986 he joined the Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
for a PhD under the guidance of Hans Queisser. He then joined
AT&T Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...
in
Holmdel Holmdel is a township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located near Raritan Bay in the Raritan Valley Region, the township is a regional commercial hub of Central Jersey, home to Bell Labs and PNC Bank Arts Center, and a ...
(New Jersey) as a postdoctoral research associate. In 1991 he joined the
RWTH Aachen RWTH Aachen University (), in German ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen'', is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study prog ...
as an assistant professor and obtained the Habilitation degree. In 1993 he joined the
Technische Universitaet Dresden TU Dresden (for , abbreviated as TUD), also as the Dresden University of Technology, is a public research university in Dresden, Germany. It is the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony a ...
as a professor of optoelectronics. Since 2002 he has been also with the Fraunhofer-Institut für Photonische Mikrosysteme, currently as director.


Achievements

Leo works in the field of semiconductor optics and the physics of thin organic films. In 1992 he discovered
Bloch oscillations Bloch oscillation is a phenomenon from solid state physics. It describes the oscillation of a particle (e.g. an electron) confined in a periodic potential when a constant force is acting on it. It was first pointed out by Felix Bloch and Clarence Z ...
in a semiconductor superlattice. His work on
organic semiconductor Organic semiconductors are solids whose building blocks are pi-bonded molecules or polymers made up by carbon and hydrogen atoms and – at times – heteroatoms such as nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen. They exist in the form of molecular crystals o ...
s led to
Organic Light Emitting Diodes An organic light-emitting diode (OLED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a type of light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is an organic compound film that emits light in respons ...
with the highest power efficiencies reported and to
Organic Solar Cells An organic solar cell (OSC) or plastic solar cell is a type of photovoltaic that uses organic electronics, a branch of electronics that deals with conductive organic polymers or small organic molecules, for light absorption and charge transport t ...
with leading efficiency values. In 2002 he won the Leibniz award, which is Germany's most prestigious scientific award.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 In 2021, he was awarded the European Inventor Award in the 'Lifetime Achievement' category.Karl Leo receives the European Inventor Award 2021 in the 'Lifetime Achievement' category.
Eurekalert, 18 June 2021.


Awards

*
Otto Hahn Medal The Otto Hahn Medal () is awarded by the Max Planck Society to young scientists and researchers in both the natural and social sciences. The award takes its name from the German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate Otto Hahn, who served as the first ...
,
Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...
, 1989 * Rudolf-von-Bennigsen-Förderpreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, 1992 * Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize,
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bu ...
, 2002 *
European Inventor Award The European Inventor Award (formerly European Inventor of the Year Award, renamed in 2010), are presented annually by the European Patent Office, sometimes supported by the respective Presidency of the Council of the European Union and by the Eur ...
(Lifetime Achievement), 2021


References


External links


IAPP page of Karl Leo

Laudatio of the DFG (in German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leo, Karl 1960 births 21st-century German physicists Living people Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners Scientists from Freiburg im Breisgau 20th-century German physicists