San Jose, CA--What better way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the laser than with a two-hour rock concert starring your very own photonics industry colleagues? If you didn’t attend the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) 2010, then you missed LasersRock! But if you did, you might have spotted your colleagues not only performing, but also kicking up their heels on the dance floor.

CLEO 2010 was also the scene of some very serious and profound technical sessions demonstrating just how far the laser has come in 50 years. The CLEO/Laser Focus World Innovation Awards presentations, a historic laser display, and an evening CLEO Plenary were among the activities. Watch the video here (you just might see a fellow colleague or two; unfortunately, some of the best images weren’t caught on film).

LasersRock! was sponsored by Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA) and LaserFest, which is a collaboration between the American Physical Society, the Optical Society, SPIE, and IEEE Photonics Society. Musical acts included Phat Photonics from Oregon Health & Science University; Eric Hansotte from Maskless Lithography; the Free Lunch Band from Lawrence Livermore National Lab; Brian Kolner from the University of California Davis; Bob Fisher of RA Fisher Associates, LLC; Steven Block from Stanford University, and Yoshiaki Nakajima from Fukui University in Japan. Too bad we can't celebrate like this every year!

--Posted by Gail Overton; gailo@pennwell.com; www.laserfocusworld.com