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With its planar, highly integrated XY scanner for industrial use (PIXIE), an upcoming spin-off of the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen aims to set new performance standards. The 2D laser deflection system is faster and much more compact than today's galvanometer scanners. This makes it ideal for parallelized material processing with multi-scanner systems and high-power lasers, whose beam is divided into many independently scanned beams for this purpose. The multidisciplinary, diverse quartet of founders behind PIXIE has its sights set on further application markets.

Laser technology is breaking into new dimensions: Ultrashort-pulse and continuous-wave lasers with average powers in the multi-kilowatt (kW) range promise to boost efficiency for material processing and pave the way for entirely new fields of applications. At the AKL’26 - International Laser Technology Congress, taking place from April 22 to 24, 2026, in Aachen, several sessions will focus on multi-kW lasers.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT will present its laser-based process chain for glass optics manufacturing at Optatec, May 5–7, 2026, in Frankfurt am Main, Hall 3, Booth 219. From optical design through shaping, laser polishing, and laser shape correction to alignment and packaging, Fraunhofer ILT offers a fully integrated, laser-based manufacturing process that is unique in this form worldwide. The process chain covers shaping, laser polishing, and laser shape correction, followed by alignment and packaging. Fraunhofer ILT offers a fully integrated, laser-based manufacturing process that is unique in this form worldwide.

Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen, together with tinkerbrain – Institut für Bildungsinitiativen GmbH, has developed multimedia and multidisciplinary learning and teaching materials as part of Science Year 2025, funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR). It teaches schoolchildren about the scientific and technical background of fusion as an energy source of the future and its potential to generate a secure climate-neutral energy supply. Three schools in Aachen have already worked with this subject in regular lessons and in week-long project seminars. The project partners are now making it available free of charge to interested schools and extracurricular learning centers as the web-based "fusionsLAB.de."