Guest speaker at PLI Conferences : Markus Kogel-Hollacher

The PLI Conferences event will take place this year on June 18th and 19th in Bordeaux, at the Palais de la Bourse. This edition is organized in partnership with Alphanov, Alpha-RLH, Amplitude and Lasea. Eleven internationally renowned guest speakers will be present to share their expertise.

Meet one of them: Markus Kogel-Hollacher, Head of department R&D projects at Precitec Group.






- About his background

I started my work in the laser industry in 1994 at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (Aachen). After graduating from RWTH Aachen University in 1996, I continued my work at Precitec in Germany. In 2008 I obtained my Ph.D. at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany. I am a Fellow of LIA (Laser Institute of America) and winner of the PRISM award in 2023.


- What made you want to work in this field?

I was actually looking for a topic for my diploma thesis and I was about to sign to the Helmhotz Institute in Aachen. I was very interested in the freezing of human cells and had already done a student research project there. A friend of mine called me and told me that his brother was looking for support for his doctorate at the Fraunhofer ILT. I promised him I would at least listen to it once and the rest is history.


- How did you learn about the PLI Conferences and what does this event represent for you?

I have already attended some of the PLI conferences. Precitec has had close relationships with French institutes and facilities such as IREPA LASER and the Institute Maupertuis for many years, so I was always keen to find out how the laser scene is developing in France. And the best place to do that is at the PLI conferences.  


- What will be the subject of your conference?

In my job as coordinator of R&D projects at Precitec, I am currently involved in many topics. For the PLI Conference 2024 in Bordeaux, I have chosen the topic "Photonics in the Field of Electric-powered Vehicles". I want to show that without the use of lasers as a beam source and without the use of photonic sensors, there would be no electric vehicles on the road.


- What do you expect from these two days of conferences?

Attending a conference is about exchanging ideas, professional discussions, getting a feel for what new topics are of interest and, of course, networking. All of this is particularly true of the PLI Conference 2024. We have also just announced a partnership with CAILABS. Going to a laser conference in France now makes even more sense.



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