ICALEO goes Latin

Next week marks the 32nd convening of the International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electronics (ICALEO). Born in Anaheim, CA, as a follow-up to the very successful Joint US/Japan Laser Material Processing Conference, ICALEO, even given that then rather grandiose title, was a winner from the start. Building on continuing contributions from Japan and an increasing number of submissions from Europe, where laser materials processing was booming at a preponderance of research and development institutes, ICALEO was from the start an international conference in fact.

Now recognized globally as THE advanced laser materials processing conference, ICALEO has swung back to its international roots after a late 1990s' slow-down in contributions from overseas. This year, the four-day meeting is again heavily weighted toward international papers. Some attendees are concerned about this, but they fail to recognize that advanced laser material processing R&D has not, until this year, had substantive government support in the US. One can speculate that in the coming years the number of new and exciting papers on this subject authored by US contributors will rise to prominence.

This year’s event in Miami, that most Latin of US cities, will be heavy with fiber laser and ultra-fast-pulse applications in micromachining, additive manufacturing, and other hot technologies. Regardless of their origin, they will be major contributions to the fund of knowledge that ICALEO has spawned.