Press

For three decades now, the AKL – International Laser Technology Congress has been established as a key platform for exchange within the laser community. From April 22–24, 544 experts from 21 countries, around 90 speakers, and 57 exhibiting companies and institutions flocked to AKL’26 in Aachen. There, during the Gerd Herziger Session, a panel of high-caliber experts reviewed the developments of the past 30 years and looked ahead to the future of increasingly ubiquitous laser technology.

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.