To understand the emerging framework for photonics R&D priorities in the U.S., I urge you to review the recommendations of the Fast-Track Action Committee on Optics and Photonics (FTAC-OP), just released by the National Science and Technology Council. It is not a binding funding blueprint, but it helps illuminate goals that the U.S. government may pursue. The FTAC-OP prioritized seven recommendations.
For research, they are:
(A1) Biophotonics to advance understanding of systems biology and disease progression: Support fundamental research in innovative biophotonics to enable advances in quantitative imaging; systems biology, medicine, and neuroscience; in vivo validation of biomarkers that advance medical diagnostics, prevention, and treatment; and more efficient agricultural production.
(A2) From faint to single photonics: Develop optics and photonics technologies that operate at the faintest light levels.
(A3) Imaging through complex media: Advance the science of light propagation and imaging through scattering, dispersive, and turbulent media.
(A4) Ultra-low-power nano-optoelectronics: Explore the limits of low energy, attojoule-level photonic devices for application to information processing and communications.
Related link: Strategies in Biophotonics Conference and Exhibition, Speakers and topics, Boston, September 9-11
For research-related capabilities, they are:
(B1) Accessible fabrication facilities: Determine the need of academic researchers and small business innovators for access to affordable domestic fabrication capabilities to advance the research, development, manufacture, and assembly of complex integrated photonic-electronic devices.
(B2) Exotic photonics: Promote research and development to make compact coherent sources, detectors, and associated optics at exotic wavelengths and to make them accessible to academia, national laboratories, and industry.
(B3) Domestic sources of critical photonics materials: Develop and make available optical and photonic materials critical to our Nation’s research programs, such as infrared materials, nonlinear materials, low-dimensional materials, novel fiber-optic materials, and engineered materials.
Related articles: Photonic Materials: Chemical element availability impacts the future of photonics, by Gail Overton, Laser Focus World
The recommendations are in line with those of the U.S. National Photonics Initiative. The report is titled: Building a Brighter Future with Optics and Photonics, prepared by FTAC-OP for the Physical Sciences Subcommittee of the Committee on Science, National Science and Technology Council.
The full report, laying out the details in each of these recommendations, is available HERE or may be downloaded at the www.whitehouse.gov.
About the Author
Conard Holton
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.