Accuracy Record set: Research Group of Dr. Hanieh Fattahi awarded Helmholtz Prize
The 2026 Helmholtz Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of precision measurement has been awarded to, among others, Dr. Hanieh Fattahi and her research group “Femtosecond Fieldoscopy” at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL). The award recognizes their contribution to the development of femtosecond fieldoscopy, a new measurement technique for the high-precision analyzation of optical electric fields under ambient conditions.
Exploring the micro- and nanocosmos in both living and non-living nature requires specialized techniques in microscopy and spectroscopy. Femtosecond fieldoscopy, developed by Hanieh Fattahi and her independent research group, represents a new measurement technique. This method, which utilizes ultrashort laser pulses, opens a new window of observation into the microscopic world, where processes such as the interactions of light with matter take place very rapidly, i.e. on very short timescales – in the range of femtoseconds or attoseconds (10-15 s or 10-18 s). Femtosecond fieldoscopy makes it possible to measure the properties of the electric field of optical radiation under ambient conditions instead of just in a vacuum, meaning that biological samples can also be examined.
“Fieldoscopy enables highly sensitive access to the electric field of light from near-infrared to visible in ambient air. This capability allows us to study light–matter interactions at the level of the oscillating electric field itself, providing a new perspective on optical measurements,” explains Fattahi. “We demonstrated how this technique can expand the information obtained from light–matter interactions and, at the same time, enable super-resolution label-free imaging with high detection sensitivity.”
The characteristics of this method: a measurement bandwidth in the petahertz range, a temporal resolution in the attosecond range, a sensitivity down to femtojoule energies, a dynamic range of over 100 dB, and a spatial resolution below the diffraction limit of light. This method thus combines key properties and represents a versatile tool for spectroscopy, imaging and fundamental investigations of light-matter interactions.
This new measurement technique finds direct application, for example, in the investigation of light-molecule interactions in liquids or in label-free super-resolution microscopy, i.e. without the use of dyes or markers.
“When the Director of PTB called to inform me that we had won the Helmholtz Prize, my very first thought was how happy the team would be. This recognition is a testament to their creativity, dedication, and hard work,” says Fattahi happily. “Seeing their excitement after hearing the news was one of the most rewarding moments of this journey. While I am deeply honored by the award, what makes it truly special is celebrating this achievement together with the people who made it possible.”
Fattahi and her team are receiving the Helmholtz Prize in the category “Precision Measurement in Applied Metrology.” In the category “Precision Measurement in Fundamental Research,” the award goes to researchers at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and the University of Würzburg. For more information, please see the PTB press release.
The award ceremony will take place on August 25, 2026, as part of a scientific conference at the PTB’s Berlin Institute.
About the Helmholtz Prize
The Helmholtz Prize is a very special benchmark in the world of metrology. It is regarded as the “Nobel Prize of Metrology” and is thus the flagship award of the Helmholtz Fund, which awards the prize every two years for outstanding scientific and technological research in the field of precision measurement in physics, chemistry and medicine. In each of the two categories, “Fundamentals” and “Applications”, it is endowed with 20,000 euros. The Helmholtz Fund e.V. is a unique non-profit association that has always been dedicated to promoting scientific progress in measurement technology. The association bears the name of the co-founder and first president of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR), the exceptional researcher Hermann von Helmholtz.
Contact
Research Group Hanieh Fattahi
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light
Staudtstr. 2
91058 Erlangen, Germany
