Germanium may not be a household name like silicon, its group-mate on the periodic table, but it has great potential for use in next-generation electronics and energy technology.

With their research on nanomaterials for optoelectronics, scientists from Heidelberg University and the University of St Andrews (Scotland) have succeeded for the first time to demonstrate a strong interaction of light and matter in semiconducting carbon nanotubes. Such strong light-matter coupling is an important step towards realizing new light sources, such as electrically pumped lasers based on organic semiconductors. They would be, amongst other things, important for applications in telecommunications. These results are the outcome of a cooperation between Prof. Dr Jana Zaumseil (Heidelberg) and Prof. Dr Malte Gather (St Andrews), and have been published in “Nature Communications”.

According to statistics, the majority of accidents occur at dusk or at night – poor visibility is often the trigger. Intelligent headlights adapt to the current traffic situation, and can be a remedy. In collaboration with industry partners, Fraunhofer researchers have developed a high-resolution illumination system with more than 1,000 LED pixels: It offers considerably more options for precise light distribution than previous solutions have and is also energy efficient.

With the growing trend towards the use of LEDs for innovative lamp and lighting concepts, Bayer MaterialScience has developed new grades of its transparent Makrolon® polycarbonate specifically for the production of these modern light sources.