Always a work in progress

Dec. 12, 2013

At Laser Focus World, we make evolutionary changes to our magazine and website. I won't claim we're better than ever because I think the changes essentially extend our 48-year tradition of providing information of high technical quality and variety to the photonics community.

Conard Holton

At Laser Focus World, we make evolutionary changes to our magazine and website. I won't claim we're better than ever because I think the changes essentially extend our 48-year tradition of providing information of high technical quality and variety to the photonics community.

For example, in the magazine you may have noticed that Milton Chang and his column of interviews and opinions now occupy the back page. Since we rarely cover business news per se in the magazine (that goes on the website), Milton's perspective as entrepreneur and investor adds market insights that are difficult to obtain elsewhere. For more about markets, in January we will continue the tradition of publishing the definitive review and forecast of the laser marketplace by senior editor Gail Overton and Strategies Unlimited analyst Allen Nogee.

Also in 2014, Gail and contributing editor Jeff Hecht will continue their two series, respectively, on applications of photonics (e.g., in additive manufacturing, optical sensing, and energy) and frontiers in photonics (e.g., quantum computing, laser countermeasures, and computational imaging). And we will begin a new series by senior editor John Wallace, who will use his technical expertise to review some of the most interesting products on the market, including spectrometers, visible laser diodes, lens-design software, and photodiodes. As a bonus, in this issue you can read John's annual top 20 technology picks for 2013 (see page 37)—and, of course, the many technical articles contributed each issue by experts in industry and academia.

As for the website, we are constantly tweaking our design for performance and, the new buzz word, responsiveness (which means the presentation is flexible, depending on display size and device type). We will continue to publish the latest photonics science and technology news (far more than in the magazine), along with business and market news, several popular blogs from our staff, a host of webcasts, and a growing library of videos by and about the industry.

Thank you for your support in 2013, and best wishes for the New Year.

About the Author

Conard Holton | Editor at Large

Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.