Günther Tränkle

Converting research findings into real-world products as quickly as possible – hardly any other scientist pursues this goal as steadfastly and successfully as Prof. Dr. Günther Tränkle. The best example of this can be found in the five spin-off companies of the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik (FBH), all of which have arisen during Günther Tränkle’s tenure as the institute’s director. In his role as the head of the Optec-Berlin-Brandenburg competence network (OpTecBB), Tränkle also has a hand in regularly bringing representatives from the world of science and business together at the same table. They share the same goal of jointly developing and implementing optical technologies.

Awards for Successfully Transferring Knowledge

Materials processing, laser technology and medical and precision engineering are all industrial fields that use the diode lasers developed at the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut. Günther Tränkle also puts a high value on the application- and industry-oriented research conducted in other divisions of the Leibniz institute. The results have been impressive: For its achievements in transferring technology, the FBH has already won several awards. “All of these successes have been made possible because we’ve had the right partners in our own backyard, with whom we’ve enjoyed excellent exchange,” says Günther Tränkle.

The WideBaSe Research Network Has Made a Name for Itself

The same holds true for the most recent project under the direction of this Berliner-by-choice. In 2007, the WideBaSe Research network was jointly launched with the Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth (IKZ). This network pools all activities related to wide bandgap semiconductors, upon which important components are based, such as light diodes in the UV spectrum. “Over time, the network has made a name for itself, and we have launched WideBaSe Applications, a core of regional growth,” says Günther Tränkle. Among the things to which Tränkle attributes the excellent functioning of the exchange between science and business is the high concentration of scientific establishments in Berlin: “This environment naturally also attracts innovative, young companies that need research partners or exploit the findings of scientific studies.”

Professor at the Technische Universität Berlin

Many of the developments of the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut are based on III/V compound conductors, a field that Tränkle has been researching for several years. Included among the many positions he has held is that of head of the III/V Semiconductor Technology unit at the Walter Schottky Institute of the Technische Universität München. In 1996, Günther Tränkle was appointed director of the Ferdinand-Braun-Institute. Moreover, since 2002, he has also been a professor at the Technische Universität Berlin. Tränkle is a professor of microwave technology and optoelectronics in the university’s Department of High-Frequency and Semiconductor System Technologies, and he conducts research in the areas of III/V semiconductor technology, micro- and millimeterwave electronics and high-performance diode lasers.

If you ask Günther Tränkle what he thinks his biggest success has been, he’ll say that it has been the positive development of the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut under his direction. Of course, he also attributes this achievement in no small part to his colleagues there: “Out of all the potential available here in Berlin, we have succeeded in jointly creating a high-performing European establishment focused on the areas of laser technology and microwave technology.”