In order to achieve valuable scientific results, the talented Ph.D. students need to acquire knowledge and are required to exchange knowledge and experience with other Ph.D. students in method-oriented working groups as well. Supervision by two advisors and one mentor accompanies the whole doctoral thesis work to ensure the constant quality of the work and so its success. In order to achieve and maintain a high level of Ph.D. theses in general, a total quality management program is practiced and implemented by the managing administrator of KSOP.
The three-year elite and interdisciplinary Ph.D. thesis work comprises the participation in at least five elite Ph.D. course modules with a minimum of one module in each of the four categories:
- Technical modules
- Scientific modules
- Management modules
- Key competence modules
The students present their results during the Karlsruhe Days of Optics & Photonics or the KSOP Summer School at least three times in the three years of studying. Furthermore, KSOP offers annual colloquia in cooperation with partners from industry where the Ph.D. students have the opportunity to present their work.
Modules
Management Modules |
Content |
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I. International Project Management |
Project Management and Scheduling, Information and Process Engineering, Multiproject Management in a Global Environment, Development Management, Intercultural Management |
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II. Human Resource Management |
Entrepreneurship post doctorate, Teamwork and leadership competencies, Conflict Management, Management Training, Leadership and Management Development |
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NEW: III. Fundamentals in Finance |
Financial systems, Accounting statements and financial analysis, Financial planing, Risk management |
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NEW: IV. Business Strategies
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Corporate management, Business strategy, Corporate social responsibility | ||
NEW: V. Start-up companies workshop |
Principles of business plans, Best-practice presentation of successful spin-off companies of KSOP | ||
Technical Modules |
Content |
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Micro- and nanotechnology laboratory |
Introduction into working in a clean-room environment, photo-lithography, thin-film deposition |
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Laser laboratory work |
Laser safety, principles of lasers, laboratory work and aligning procedures |
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Laser materials processing
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Lasers and the impact of beam properties on the machining process, Components and systems for beam shaping and beam delivery, Demonstration of laser-based manufacturing processes | ||
NEW: Optical sensing and spectroscopy
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Principles of detectors and detection techniques, Noise and backgound, Signal amplification techniques, Spectrometers, Line and array detectors, Single-photon counting, Tunable diode lasers | ||
Advanced light microscopy in biological Science |
Preparation of biological samples, fluorescence microscopy, live cell imaging, laser scanning microscopy |
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NEW: Optical imaging and sensing in medicine
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Propagation of light in human tissues, Blood oxygen measurement by pulse oximetry, Fluorescent labeling of human tissue (ex-vivo), Fluorescent imaging of transmembrane voltages, Optical tomography, Fluorescence biomolecular imaging (in-vivo) | ||
Digital signal processing |
Computer lab training for the introduction into different image processing strategies |
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Computer aided design of optical
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Computer lab training for the introduction into different optical design software packages |
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NEW: Design, fabrication and characterization of solar cells |
Solar insolation, Materials for photovoltaics, Solar cell principles, Solar cell technologies, Manufacturing techniques, from cells over panels to solar power plants, Economics of solar energy | ||
LabView |
Data acquisition and hardware control using LabView |
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MatLab / SimuLink |
Data evaluation, numeric using MatLab and systems modeling using SimuLink |
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Scientific Modules |
Content |
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Summer School courses |
e.g. KSOP Summer School, NATO, CFN |
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Scientific Conferences |
In the chosen research area |
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Key Competence Modules |
Content |
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Personal key competence |
Scientific writing and presentation |
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| NEW: Job application workshop | |||
| NEW: Time and self-management in day-to-day academic life | |||
| NEW: Career and personal development workshop |
