SPIE Optics + Photonics product preview: Optics and photonics to proliferate on exhibit floor

The SPIE Optics + Photonics 2014 exhibition, set to take place August 19-21, 2014, in San Diego, CA, will host 181 companies that will showcase their products and solutions in optical components, fabrication, and design; detectors, sensors, and cameras; lasers, accessories, and laser systems; fiber optics; positioning and vibration-isolation equipment; LED and OLED technology; optical engineering software; and test, measurement, and analysis equipment, among others.

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SPIE Optics + Photonics also includes a conference portion, which kicks off two days earlier on August 17th and runs through the 21st. The conference's opening-day technical sessions will feature plenary talks on the future of wearable optics, fusion energy, and the search for habitable worlds in space. Symposium-wide plenary speakers on opening day will include:

Robert Pappalardo (Jet Propulsion Lab), who will present on NASA's proposed Europa Clipper mission to place a spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter's moon Europa to look for liquid water or other signs of habitability. The possible payload of scientific instruments includes radar, infrared spectrometers, topographic cameras, mass spectrometers, and other imaging devices.
Babak Parviz (Amazon), who will discuss why developing interactive wearble devices, including Google Glass, might have reached a tipping point.
Mike Dunne (National Ignition Facility [NIF], Lawrence Livermore National Lab), who will cover NIF's progress toward bringing star power (fusion) to Earth, including results of an experiment this year that resulted in fusion energy output more than double the energy input to the fusion fuel.

Fourteen more plenary presentations throughout the week will include talks on nanoscale engineering, photovoltaic technology, image processing, organic bio-devices, and optical imaging.

A professional development program includes 32 courses and workshops on important concepts in optical and systems engineering, optomechanics, manufacturing, remote sensing, and metrology, among others.

Technical attendees will have access to 3100 papers covered by four symposia: NanoScience + Engineering, Solar Energy + Technology, Organic Photonics + Electronics, and Optical Engineering + Applications.

The NanoScience + Engineering symposium, launched in 2007, is one of the world's largest and most active nano meetings. "Optics and photonics are at the heart of nano applications ranging from cancer therapy to self-cleaning windows," said symposium co-chair David Andrews (University of East Anglia Norwich). Andrews said this year's symposium will cover a wider-than-ever range than ever of cutting-edge research and development.

Several conferences within the Optical Engineering + Applications symposium will augment technical sessions with historical and business aspects of the field.

A two-day conference will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Optical Sciences Center, founded by Aden Meinel in 1964 and now known as the College of Optical Sciences, at University of Arizona. SPIE Fellow James Wyant, who became the founding dean when the center became a college in 2005, will give a keynote presentation.

In Photonic Innovations and Solutions for Complex Environments and Systems, Akhlesh Lakhtakia and Judith Todd (Pennsylvania State University) will moderate a panel discussion on issues such as how research agendas are being set in light of government policies and actions, and whether universities and research institutes have the right frameworks to partner with industry and government.

SPIE will preview International Year of Light 2015 (IYL2015) festivities with a "First Light" presentation at the symposium welcome reception. Throughout the week, a booth will offer information on how to become involved in the initiative, and activities such as the SPIE International Year of Light Photo Contest.

At the SPIE Women in Optics presentation and reception, Ana María Cetto (Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) will describe the establishment in 1996 in Mexico City of a Museum of Light. Cetto, who was on the team of optics and photonics leaders who proposed the IYL2015 to the United Nations and UNESCO, will also discuss the initiative.

For more information on SPIE Optics + Photonics 2014, please visit http://spie.org/x30491.xml.