Research Alliance Leibniz Health Technologies

FBH has been contributing its expertise in laser light sources to the Research Alliance Leibniz Health Technologies since 2014. This association of 15 research institutes develops technological solutions for urgent medical issues and unites expertise in multiple scientific fields, from photonics and medicine to microelectronics and materials research, to economic research and applied mathematics. Innovative health technologies can thus be brought to market maturity along a gapless innovation chain of industry, clinics, insurance companies, and politics. Leibniz Health Technologies takes a comprehensive approach that includes researching the economic, social, and ethical consequences of new technologies. 

The FBH is currently working on the UV-COLA project to develop a miniaturized far-UVC diode laser disinfection module for the healthcare sector. In the approach pursued jointly by FBH and University of Technology Chemnitz, violet-emitting semiconductor lasers provide the basis. In a MOPA configuration, brilliant, high-power radiation is generated and frequency-doubled into the far-UVC range using a nonlinear crystal. Coupled into a thin fiber, this radiation could be applied directly to disinfect the nose and throat area – a major reservoir for multidrug-resistant germs, from which they can spread or cause severe infections. The project is funded as part of the Leibniz competition program and will continue until early 2028.