Jun 17 2014
With a record number of paper submissions and the highest attendance in five years, CLEO: 2014 concluded last week after six days of quality presentations, diverse symposia, important business insights and unique innovations from prominent companies in the laser and electro-optics industry.
The event was host to 5,000 attendees and featured sessions and activities in areas such as photonics for brain mapping, high-power lasers, nanophotonics, laser therapeutics, nonlinear optics, quantum optics, technology transfer, laser-based manufacturing and more.
Unique Perspectives from Top Researchers
CLEO: 2014 offered several opportunities to hear from the most prominent experts in the field—including well-known, early pioneers and today’s foremost researchers. The late James Gordon, known as one of the founding fathers of quantum electronics, was honored at a special symposium featuring presentations from three Nobel Laureates and a host of well-known laser experts who provided both personal stories of Gordon’s life and overviews of the current state of research influenced by Gordon’s many contributions.
Plenary speakers this year included Gerhard Rempe of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, who spoke on quantum coherent networks; Larry Coldren of the University of California, Santa Barbara who discussed the latest in photonic integrated circuits; and Sir David Payne of the University of Southampton who offered a comprehensive view of the future of specialty fibers.
Leading Companies on Display
The exhibit hall showcased products and services from 250 companies, such as Coherent, IDEX, Newport, Thorlabs, Toptica and many others. The CLEO/Laser Focus World Innovation Awards recognized three companies making novel contributions to the industry, including winner Daylight Solutions for the first laser-based infrared microscopy platform, known as Spero™.
All-inclusive, Quality Programming
More than 2,600 paper submissions resulted in hundreds of technical sessions featuring key research institutions worldwide and covering topics in OCT, space-based laser communications, LIDAR and medical imaging. Meanwhile, special symposia themes ran the gamut from neurophotonics and nanobiophotonics to silicon photonic integration and laser processing for consumer electronics.
Show floor activities included the comprehensive CLEO: Market Focus, which this year featured panels on air quality monitoring, solid-state lighting, photonics business strategies and public-private collaborations. The Technology Transfer Program offered an opportunity for startups to hear from seasoned entrepreneurs about best practices for taking innovations from the lab into the marketplace.
From first-time presenter Benham Behroozpour of the University of California, Berkeley to long-established luminaries Charles Townes and Steven Chu, CLEO: 2014 again proved to be the premier event that serves the entire laser community with best-in-class content, networking and program diversity. Join us next year for CLEO: 2015, 10-15 May in San Jose, California, USA.
Source: http://www.osa.org/