The industry’s most innovative people 2024 Ilaria Testa


Organisation: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Scilifelab


Job title: Associate professor


Ilaria Testa has not lost her wonder at the abilities of super-resolution microscopy. “I will always remember the first time I recorded a super resolved fluorescent image of a living cell,” she says. Testa is currently developing an optical


system based on fluorescence to probe rotational diffusivity of macromolecules directly in cells: “If successful, it can become the new paradigm to study molecular interaction in vivo.” Her work at the cutting edge of photonics is still throwing up surprises. “The class of photo-switching molecules


Jan Brajer


Organisation: HiLASE Centre Role: Head of department


Brajer and his team at the HiLASE research centre are working on prospective laser technologies for industrial production. “One is laser-induced damage testing, which is important for optics and coatings producers. Another technology is laser shock peening, which provides a unique solution for material fatigue and cracking that occurs in critical parts under cyclic loading across various industrial fields. Finally, we also focus on micromachining and surface functionalisation,” he says. In surface functionalisation in particular, he says the results have been very


Based in: Czech Republic Education: PhD, Czech Technical University


interesting. “We can imprint our laser-made structures into plastic during injection moulding, preserving their full functionality. Through this technique, we were able to enhance the antibacterial properties of mass-produced surfaces by 99.7%,” he says. Brajer identifies chip manufacturing as one of the most significant photonics technologies of the past 12 months: “Specifically, the way CO2


lasers from


Trumpf are used to generate wavelengths of 13.5nm is ingenious. Moreover, Trumpf has turned a dying business of CO2


lasers into the most promising area of their company.” Joachim Horwath


Organisation: Mynaric Role: Chief Technology Officer


Joachim Horwath's team at the laser communication equipment manufacturer Mynaric is focused on creating “scalable, affordable, and industrialised free-space optical communications products to enable global connectivity for all people, machines and things on Earth". Horwath says Mynaric’s main mission is


to make optical communications scalable to meet the demands of both government and commercial customers. Creating global connectivity, Horwath


adds, “will require optical communications infrastructure across multiple applications,


Based in: Munich, Germany


Education: Dipl.-Ing. (M.S.) from Technical University of Graz


including space, airborne and terrestrial. We are working on products and solutions to create connectivity for the under- and un-connected. When everyone has access to information and the global economy, we will create equity among all people and nations.” In 2018, Mynaric was inducted into the Space Foundation's Space Technology Hall of Fame for its work on transferring laser communication developed for research purposes to commercial applications. “Being recognised by the industry for


the work we had done was humbling and a great honour,” Horwath says.


we are working with recently showed the ability to preserve the orientation of the transition dipole moment upon light switching. This was a pleasant surprise which fostered the development of many new ideas,” she says. On her research priorities for the next


year, Testa says: “I’m always fascinated by the dynamics of molecules within brain cells, how they interact and localise over time. My first priority is to find novel and reliable ways to capture them.” You can find Testa online at Testalab.org, or see her in person at FOM 2024.


Based in: Stockholm, Sweden Education: PhD, Docent


30 Photonics100 2024


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