What intrigued Laser Focus World’s editorial board in 2025?

We’re thrilled to introduce you to LFW’s amazing editorial board—and I’d like to say a big thank you to all of them for sharing their expertise and helping us out not only here, but all the time in so many ways.

What’s the most intriguing thing you saw happen within the industry in 2025?

“One of the most impressive developments this year was the demonstration of a hollow-core fiber with record-low loss by Professor Francesco Poletti’s group at the University of Southampton (see www.orc.soton.ac.uk/news/7210 and www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01747-5). This advance redefines the performance limits of optical fibers and opens new possibilities for high-capacity, low-latency communications.”—Professor Jean-Michel Ménard, University of Ottawa

“It intrigued me that after many years of research on photonic crystal fibers, finally, the optical losses for air-guided light in anti-resonant fiber are so low they can beat standard single-mode fiber. And these fibers can be made reliably and in large quantities. This is a great effort by the whole team around Professor Francesco Poletti at the University of Southampton.”—Professor Birgit Stiller, Leibniz University Hannover and Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Light

“As a university researcher, the most exciting thing for me was seeing how quickly optics, photonics, and quantum technologies are gaining attention, especially during the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. There’s increasing discussion about Moore’s law reaching its limits and the need for advanced packaging, which relies heavily on optical technologies. At the same time, optics is becoming a key enabler for emerging fields such as AI, machine learning, virtual reality, and quantum information. Altogether, it makes research in this area feel especially motivating.”—Mohan Wang, University of Oxford postdoctoral researcher

“Since 2025 was the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, there were many quantum stories in the news. In South Africa, we had the lovely demonstration of a quantum key distribution (QKD) link from China to South Africa—spanning nearly 13,000 kilometers. Not only is it a new world record but it also is the first to connect the global south and it’s good to see countries begin to collaborate.”—Professor Andrew Forbes, University of the Witwatersrand

“The most intriguing thing I saw happen in 2025 was the demonstration of electroluminescence of insulating nanocrystals by several groups around the globe. These insulating systems are solution-processed, bio- and fab-compatible ceramic nanocrystals, doped with lanthanide ions. Lanthanide-doped insulating nanocrystals offer so much more than conventional LEDs—they emit sharp, pure colors, tunable from the visible to the infrared, with unparalleled photostability. Excitation of these trendy nanoscale systems by electric fields rather than the traditional optical pumps opens up a vast range of possibilities one could have only dreamed of previously—from deeply-subsurface electric field sensing to incredibly small lasers—on top of the obvious lighting and display technology improvements expected. We started the year with mechanical force sensing, and are closing it with electric field pumping. Can’t wait to see where lanthanide-doped nanocrystals are headed next!”—Natalie Fardian-Melamed, Columbia University postdoctoral scientist

“Some of the most intriguing developments I’ve seen in optics involve advances in 3D-printing technologies for optical materials, especially at small scales. In just the past year, we’ve seen improvements in printing at micron and sub-micron resolutions; aerosol-jet ‘spray printing’ that enables optical paths to be routed over and around existing electronic components; and techniques for controlling local transparency and refractive index in 3D-printed glass microstructures. These and other emerging approaches to 3D-printed optics offer design freedoms in photonics that aren’t feasible with traditional lithography. As the AI industry continues to grow rapidly and drive innovation in integrated photonics, I expect micron-scale additive manufacturing to play an increasingly significant role as printing speed and scalability improve.”—Justin Sigley, AmeriCOM chief scientist

“Beyond the advances in quantum computing, the most noticeable development has been the rise of new, alternative computing paradigms. Some build on classical hardware and architecture, while other paradigms rethink how information is processed altogether. Optical and photonic approaches are especially exciting because they offer the potential for far greater energy efficiency, something the industry urgently needs.”—Ruti Ben-Shlomi, LightSolver CEO and cofounder

“We, along with many other companies, are excited by the opportunities being driven by the amazing progress in AI and information delivery, including the eventual integration of photonics-driven quantum techniques. One particularly exciting arena that seems to be a key focus with no end to capacity needs in sight is optical communications.”—James Butler, Hamamatsu Corp. VP of marketing

“There’s been a bit of buzz about using structured light to study ultrafast light-matter interactions. This review paper gives a good overview: www.nature.com/articles/s42254-025-00887-5. I’m not sure if I agree with all the promises, but the technological developments—making various forms of optical vortices, controlling chirality, light with high topological charge, etc.—are exciting.”—Professor Stefan Witte, Delft University of Technology

“In photonics, the emergence of optical processors for AI computation is truly revolutionary. It feels like a major shift in how future computing systems will be designed with extremely fast computation speed.”—Professor Xuchen Wang, Harbin Engineering University

“Scale-down of the enabling technologies and scale-up of wafer size! Manufacturing has moved rapidly, particularly for silicon photonics and integration. As a community, it’s exciting to work on the very smallest man-made objects such as quantum dots on the nanometer scale that are being integrated into devices on wafers that are now scaled onto 300-mm wafers and beyond.”—Professor Stephen Sweeney, University of Glasgow

Are you seeing any interesting trends emerge?

“I’m very curious to see how integrated photonic chips will develop for ion-based quantum computing, and how these approaches might influence the ability to scale qubit numbers in such systems.”—Dr. Tara Fortier, NIST physicist and project leader

“For much of my career, programming was largely the realm of specialists. The rise of Python and R changed that, making data analysis and automation more accessible and sparking innovation across fields. Now, with AI, diving into programming and complex analysis has become even easier. This is accelerating photonics research and interdisciplinary science at an unprecedented pace.”—Professor Andrea Martin Armani, University of Southern California, and Ellison Medical Institute senior director of engineering and physical sciences

“I’m seeing interesting developments in optical computing: Implementations of neural networks, neuromorphic computing, nonlinear models using optical systems, etc. Another interesting trend is in the area of integrated photonics: Chip-based optics platforms are becoming increasingly reliable, which moves them closer to applications. And there is movement in the area of optical detectors: Event-based cameras that effectively do calculations and transmit data for individual pixels rather than full frames. These are useful for LiDAR, fast imaging, and will enable all sorts of new imaging modalities.”—Stefan Witte

“AI has been in all the news, and photonics AI is a hot topic. Recently, we started to see quantum optical computing take off, blending quantum with photonic AI. This promises fast, energy-efficient machines for solving complex problems. Another is the use of topology to overcome the problem of noise in quantum systems. From solid-state topological qubits to photonics topological qubits and audits (high dimensional states), this field is exploding in activity and looks very exciting.—Andrew Forbes

“While optimization has long been the ‘holy grail’ for quantum computing and other emerging high-performance computing (HPC) platforms, we’re now seeing the market shift toward solving partial differential equations (PDEs). PDEs sit at the core of many scientific and engineering simulations, and they’re notoriously time- and energy-intensive. This is a multibillion-dollar field that largely depends on digital software to model complex physical behavior. A new wave of physics-based processors is changing this. By using natural media such as light or even chemistry to mirror how physical processes unfold, they can run these simulations natively and far more efficiently. A growing research community is rallying around these approaches, contributing to what we see as the ‘heterogeneous future of HPC,’ where specialized processors tackle the tasks they’re best suited for rather than relying solely on general-purpose hardware.”—Ruti Ben-Shlomi

“One emerging trend is the growing use of AI to enhance both data collection and analysis. From adaptive measurement strategies to real-time pattern recognition, AI is accelerating discovery across photonics and quantum research.”—Jean-Michel Ménard

“An interesting trend we’re observing, particularly in the defense optics industry, is the shift in R&D funding. For the past two decades, significant U.S. government funding from the DoD, NSF, NIST, and DOE has supported steady, incremental, but sometimes slow development in optics and photonics. Optics continue to be critically important for defense and four of the Pentagon’s six critical technology areas rely on optics or photonics technologies. The U.S. government is now shifting from funding incremental development toward procuring already-developed products with accelerated delivery schedules. This change requires optical systems companies to adapt by increasing their own innovations through internal R&D. We may see an increase in industry-funded applied research creating opportunities for agile manufacturers to break into and disrupt the defense market, but there is concern what this change might mean for fundamental research.”—Justin Sigley

“One trend I’ve noticed is the strengthening connection between academia and industry, with real momentum behind turning research prototypes into scalable, manufacturable products. Many papers this year emphasize miniaturization, disruptive approaches, scalability, and cost reduction. We’re also in a highly exploratory phase, with multiple competing technologies developing in parallel—and this diversity is part of what makes the field so exciting.”—Mohan Wang

“We’ve heard from a number of sources that defense spending and the need for dual-use photonics technology (civilian and military) are key areas of growth in the industry, and these dual-purpose technologies often enable faster innovation cycles and lower political barriers. We’re also hopeful for Q4 tailwinds in photonics applications for pharma/biotech and precision medicine that will encourage recovery to prior levels. One particular area of interest for Hamamatsu is spatial omics.”—James Butler

“AI is becoming increasingly powerful, especially in solving mathematical and theoretical problems. I’m a theorist, and derivations that previously took me more than a week can now be completed within an hour with AI’s assistance—as long as I guide it well. I believe AI will significantly enhance productivity, but it will also intensify competition. Even those who may not be naturally strong in theory can now produce high-quality theoretical work using AI.”—Xuchen Wang

“I’m always amazed by the breadth and depth of applications of lasers and photonics more broadly. I think the most interesting development during the past year was the explosion of interest in hardware for AI, and photonics is set to feature very prominently in this—particularly photonic integration and PICs.”—Stephen Sweeney

Is there anything you’re concerned about for the industry as we head into 2026?

“My main concern is a simple one: We’re rapidly developing incredibly powerful tools—from artificial intelligence to quantum computing—but are we fully prepared to use them responsibly? Are industrial regulations, ethical frameworks, and safety standards keeping pace with the speed of innovation?—Mohan Wang

“My biggest concern is the uncertainty in the world economy, and the increasing protectionism and trade blockades. Even though the need for optics is only growing, I see industry becoming hesitant to take risks and invest, which has a negative effect on innovation and job opportunities for recent tech graduates.”—Stefan Witte

“Like many of my peers, I’m increasingly concerned about the widening gap between rapidly growing AI workloads and the energy needed to support them. As an industry, we need to develop hardware that’s fundamentally better suited to these demands. But bringing new hardware from concept to commercial reality requires significant investment and close collaboration across innovators, academia, and established industry partners. We also need strong national and regional initiatives to ensure hardware progress keeps pace with advances in AI—because without that foundation, the entire ecosystem will struggle to scale sustainably.”—Ruti Ben-Shlomi

“AI offers incredible opportunities, but it’s also creating uncertainty for those entering the engineering workforce. I frequently hear questions like ‘What should I major in?’ or ‘Will AI take my job?’ If this uncertainty discourages students from pursuing STEM, it could slow the progress the industry has made in recent years.”—Andrea Martin Armani

“The balance between the rate at which we graduate quantum students and the rate at which they are absorbed into the workforce is not yet in a steady state, so it’s hard to gauge if we are producing too many or too few. The rapid rise in startups has created huge demand on talent, but one does worry that this could be a bubble that is soon to burst. Big investments usually demand big returns, and it looks like the payoff may be some years away still.”—Andrew Forbes

“I’m worried about there being a decline in foreign national students. These students make up a large share of graduate enrollments in the U.S. and contribute significantly to laboratory productivity, publication output, and the talent pipeline that feeds academia, national labs, and industry. With fewer international researchers, many programs may face difficulty maintaining sustaining experimental efforts. Over time, this trend may reduce the United States’ capacity to remain competitive in emerging STEM fields, unless offset by expanded domestic recruitment or policy changes that support international participation.”—Tara Fortier

“Boom and bust…having witnessed this in the telecom bubble of the early 2000s, I would say there is caution about the latest boom in AI and hopefully we won’t see a repeat of the telecom bubble bursting.”—Stephen Sweeney

“If the current AI surge turns out to be a bubble, its collapse could trigger broader economic consequences—potentially affecting investment and momentum in adjacent fields like photonics and quantum technologies.”—Jean-Michel Ménard