Physicists convince with their study in optics and photonics

Work published this year showed how caustics could be artificially generated and customized © WWU / AP, Alessandro Zannotti A publication by researchers led by physicist Prof. Cornelia Denz is among the world's 30 most groundbreaking papers of 2020, according to the journal Optics & Photonics News. In its special annual end-of-year issue, the journal selects the research highlights of the past year in the fields of optics and photonics. A committee of experts reviewed more than 115 international studies from 2020 and selected the best papers from them. The WWU research group "Nonlinear Photonics" headed by Cornelia Denz at the Institute of Applied Physics of the University of Münster had already been represented in the list with several publications in previous years. This year, the team receive a special honor: although there is no standout among the 30 selected papers, the team's work was honored with the cover of the issue, making it the secret winner of this year's selection. About the winning study Customized focal beams inspired by nature Laser-based material processing or high-resolution microscopy have already reached the nanoscale. They therefore require light beams that do not change as they propagate.