Hans Eggenberger Prize 2023 awarded to Dr. Stefan Köpfli
Dr. Stefan Köpfli, postdoc at the Institute for Electromagnetic Fields (IEF), headed by of Prof. Jürg Leuthold, was awarded the Hans Eggenberger Prize 2023 for his dissertation "Graphene for Highest Speed Photodetectors". Congratulations!
Dr. Stefan Köpfli wins the Hans Eggenberger Prize 2023 for his dissertation "Graphene for Highest Speed Photodetectors". During his doctorate, Stefan Köpfli worked on new devices to enable the reception of high-speed data signals, among other things. The developed technology is based on graphene, a new two-dimensional material consisting of carbon atoms, for the discovery of which a Nobel Prize was awarded in 2010. The new light sensors are so far the fastest photodetectors ever measured. In addition, they offer further advantages, e.g. operation without an external voltage source and the potential for low-cost fabrication. The thesis discusses why graphene is an ideal candidate as a material base for high-speed optoelectronics, how the different detection mechanisms can be induced in graphene and how to build working devices from it.
The Hans Eggenberger Prize was established by Hans Eggenberger, a pioneer of radio technology in Switzerland. He was always open to new ideas and believed in the positive side of progress and therefore wanted to promote young talent. The Hans Eggenberger Prize is awarded annually to outstanding young scientists. The aim is to promote young scientists, preferably but not exclusively in the field of interdisciplinary applications of electronics and/or electrical power engineering.