2025 Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize Winner
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Optica Names Juerg Leuthold the 2025 Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize Recipient
Optica is pleased to announce that Juerg Leuthold, ETH Zurich, Switzerland has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize. Leuthold is honored for pioneering plasmonics based devices and in particular developing broadband modulators and detectors with highest bandwidths.
Leuthold is the Head of the Department of Information Science and Electrical Engineering and of the Institute of Electromagnetic Fields of ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Previously, he was affiliated with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany, where he was the Head of the Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics and the Helmholtz Institute of Microtechnology. After earning a PhD in physics from ETH Zurich for work in the field of integrated optics and all-optical communications he joined Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, USA
Leuthold’s research interests are in the field of photonics, plasmonics, and THz with an emphasis on applications in high-speed communications and sensing. In the past 10 years, his research group has advanced the field of plasmonics by bringing up some of the fastest optical modulators and detectors. 
The latest plasmonic modulators feature a bandwidth of 1 THz, and the graphene-plasmonic detectors offer bandwidths in excess of 500 GHz. His group has also pioneered some of the first optical memristive devices. They are among the most compact optical devices ever built and operate with as little as a single atom. Building upon their novel devices, he and his Institute frequently contribute towards the development of novel systems. Recently, his group has been able to mimic a Tbit/s line-rate satellite feeder link in a field trial from the top of a Swiss mountain to a city. In his earlier career, he performed device and system research with III/V semiconductors and silicon photonics.
Leuthold is a Fellow of Optica and IEEE, a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences, and a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences.
First presented in 1982, the Fraunhofer Award recognizes significant research accomplishments in the field of optical engineering, and honors the contributions that Joseph Fraunhofer made to the field. The prize was added in 1992 in memory of Robert M. Burley, who exemplified many of the highest attributes of the optical engineer and was the first recipient of the award. The award and prize are endowed by the Baird Corporation, the Burley Family, and Prof. Shin-Tson Wu.
About Optica
Optica, Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, is the society dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in the field. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. Optica's renowned publications, meetings, online resources and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical and educational achievement.
Headshot Photo Credit: Prof. em. Peter Achermann, University of Zurich
Speaking Photo Credit: ETH Zürich / Alessandro Della Bella
