Lasers & Sources

The art and science of forecasting

July 8, 2014

In a recent blog posted on www.laserfocusworld.com, Strategies Unlimited analyst Allen Nogee noted that 2014 total laser sales are looking up, and some of the laggard areas are starting to correct themselves. His January 2014 market report forecasted worldwide laser revenue growth this year to be around 6%. And so far this seems to be right on track with what we're seeing. If this trend continues (always a big "if"), we will see the largest increase in annual laser revenue growth since 2011.

As baseball legend Yogi Berra once joked, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." Yet leaving aside the specific revenue numbers, I confidently predict that 2014 will be another great year for laser technologies and applications—as this issue illustrates. For example, our cover story from Macquarie University shows how new quantum-integrated photonics devices can be direct-written in glass with a femtosecond laser (see page 25), and contributing editor Jeff Hecht writes about diode-pumped solid-state lasers now under test that can withstand the rigors of the battlefield (see page 29).

In addition, an article from Gigaphoton describes a new generation of UV excimer lasers for 450 mm semiconductor wafer manufacturing (see page 43), and a feature from Ophir-Spiricon describes how high-power fiber lasers can be characterized by imaging of Rayleigh scattering in air (see page 54). Finally, an article by colleagues at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and SmalTec International provides a means of precisely measuring machined stainless-steel surfaces with laser scanning confocal microscopy (see page 49).

To continue the baseball theme, the laser technologies and applications described in this issue are all home runs.

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.