Professor Christian Koos from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has been honored with the 2025 Karl Heinz Beckurts Award for his groundbreaking research on high-speed optical networks. The holder of a PhD (Dr.-Ing.) degree in Electrical Engineering is developing novel technologies that allow large amounts of data to be transmitted faster and more energy-efficiently – for example in data centers or when training Artificial Intelligence (AI). His research aims to make digital infrastructures more climate-friendly. Many of his inventions have already found their way into practice.
“Christian Koos’ work is exemplary and shows how fundamental research can directly contribute to solving current challenges,” says Professor Oliver Kraft, Vice President Academic Affairs at KIT. “Our ambition at KIT is to accompany novel technologies from the most basic research to industrial implementation.”
“This year again, our award goes to an outstanding researcher,” said Professor Christian Stegmann, president of the Karl Heinz Beckurts foundation. “With his research on energy-efficient communication technologies, Christian Koos embodies in a particular way what this award stands for: excellent scientific work with a clear path to business. With this in mind, we are keeping the memory of Karl Heinz Beckurts alive.”
“Our components contribute substantially to sustainable digitalization,” explains laureate Christian Koos, Professor at KIT’s Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics. “The close interaction of research and industrial application, as featured here, is indispensable for forward-looking high-tech developments.”
Optical Microchips: Light instead of Electricity
The developments realized by Koos and his team include optical microchips that use light instead of electricity to transmit information. These components are particularly fast and consume significantly less energy than conventional electronic systems. The chips contain minute optical fibers and components that control, amplify, or convert the light in a targeted manner. By means of customized materials that Koos and his cooperation partners from chemistry use in their microchips, the performance of optical sender systems, for example, can be increased to more than its double, while their energy consumption drops to one tenth of its former value. This has particular relevance to data centers and AI systems that process huge amounts of data. Traditional systems are reaching their limit here – especially with regard to energy consumption.
From Lab to Industry: Startups Rely on Koos’ Technologies
Technologies Koos and his team have developed are already being used by multiple startups in which Koos was a co-founder. One of them has meanwhile been acquired by an international tech group.
Karl Heinz Beckurts Award: Bridging Research and Business
The Karl Heinz Beckurts Award is conferred annually; it includes EUR 30,000 and is awarded in remembrance of Karl Heinz Beckurts, former Director of the Institute for Applied Nuclear Physics at the then Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center, one of KIT’s predecessor institutions. Beckurts was killed, along with his driver Eckhard Groppler, by a roadside bomb on July 9, 1986. At the time of his death, he held the position of Head of Corporate Research and Technology at Siemens. Beckurts had been one of the pioneers of neutron physics in Germany. He was a dedicated intermediary between science and business
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