Chris Liebold
On Wednesday, April 19, 2023, the TU Ilmenau will celebrate for the third time the World Interferometry Day to commemorate the groundbreaking development of the interferometer - a technology that makes it possible to measure the smallest quantities and effects with high precision on the basis of light. To mark the occasion, an international scientific symposium will also be held in the Faraday Lecture Hall as early as April 17.
The invention of the interferometer by Albert Abraham Michelson over 140 years ago has become synonymous with high-precision measurement technology based on light. Light waves with the unimaginably small wavelength of a few hundred nanometers "interfere" with each other, i.e. they superimpose in a similar way to water waves. This interference allows the smallest movements to be detected and measured with the greatest accuracy. Pushing this technology to its limits and challenging it to ever new heights - that is the goal of modern precision metrology, a field in which the Institute for Process Measurement and Sensor Technology of the TU Ilmenau has been a world leader for many years and works closely with experts from science and industry.
TU Ilmenau Together with the managing director of Ilmenau-based SIOS Meßtechnik GmbHDr. Denis Dontsov, the institute's director, Professor Eberhard Manske, initiated the World Interferometry Day and organized it for the first time in 2021. For this year's commemoration day on April 19, the two scientists are again planning a variety of activities in front of and at the Ernst Abbe Center on the university campus starting at 4 p.m.. Experiments, demonstrations, giant bubbles and a laser show are planned. For example, visitors will learn what the iridescent colors of soap bubbles and butterfly wings have to do with interferometry, and can visit the nanopositioning and nanometry machine at TU Ilmenau, which is unique worldwide with its extremely high positioning accuracy. The event will conclude with a concert on the laser harp.
Already on April 17, there will also be an international scientific symposium with contributions from renowned scientists as well as poster sessions and tours of the Ilmenau laboratories. The lectures will cover a wide range of interferometric measurement techniques. One of the main topics this year is gravitational wave interferometry.
Prof. Eberhard Manske: "With this year's symposium, we are looking forward to further strengthening the scientific collaboration in the field of interferometry and precision metrology and also to bringing the topic closer to a broad audience with our activities. Both the symposium on April 17 and the demonstrations on April 19 are open to all interested people, staff and students of the university."
Participation in the events is free of charge. Applications for contributions to the World Interferometry Day on April 19, 2023, are here possible. The program, registration and more information about the International Scientific Symposium on April 17, 2023, can be found here.
Interested people can also learn more about interferometry and Ilmenau's research in this field at the Ilmenau Science Night on July 1, 2023 learn more.