The fields of optics and photonics are at the heart of research, education and industry in Jena, Germany. Nowadays, there is no other city worldwide in which optics and photonics play such a dominant role as here. The long history of outstanding research in optics and photonics has led to Jena’s high international reputation as the „City of Light“. In this rich tradition, the Abbe Center of Photonics (ACP) is the academic center of scientific activities in optics and photonics at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena de. LIGHT is distinguished as one of the University’s key research areas within the triad LIGHT – LIFE – LIBERTY, which represents the university’s long-term institutional strategy, with ACP being the key player of LIGHT within the University. As an interfaculty university center, ACP comprises more than 50 high-profile optical scientists from various university faculties specializing in a wide range of research fields within the areas of modern optics and photonics, as well as scientists from Jena’s non-academic research institutes. Moreover, the integrated Abbe School of Photonics (ASP) also runs academic programs for early-career scientists.
ACP fosters and sustains strong links with our local industry partners as well as with the international scientific community. Research is conducted in joint cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute Jena, the Helmholtz Institute Jena, the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, and the German Optics Museum. As one of its basic goals, ACP strives for synergetic effects between FSU’s university institutes, its associated non-university research institutes and partner member companies. In this way, our research and education network creates a scientific, economical and sustainable added-value