When founded in 1955, SPIE—then known as the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers—placed great emphasis on the application of photo-optical instrumentation to aerospace, atmospheric science, and astronomy. That legacy continues at SPIE DSS (Baltimore, MD; May 5-9), which has evolved in the past few years into two symposia (Defense + Security and Sensing Technology + Applications), plus an exhibition.
We are emphasizing two related applications in this issue: advanced aerospace defense and the satellite imaging of vegetation on Earth. In the first, contributing editor Jeff Hecht describes the choice between quantum cascade lasers and optical parametric amplifiers for use in the next generation of infrared countermeasures to divert heat-seeking missiles from small military aircraft (see page 31). In the second, senior editor Gail Overton writes about the aircraft and satellite-based imaging systems that are monitoring terrestrial vegetation and soil moisture with great accuracy and resolution (see page 51).
Such application articles are not the only focus in this issue. New developments in lasers are always exciting and the article on MIXSELs by Ursula Keller and her colleagues at ETH Zurich shows how one technical advance can potentially affect applications ranging from optical communications and precision measurements to microscopy, ophthalmology, and micromachining (see page 45). MIXSELs, or optically pumped modelocked integrated external-cavity surface-emitting lasers, are setting new benchmarks as low-noise, ultrafast gigahertz lasers.
The range of technologies in this issue actually highlights the variety of photonics technologies, from articles about a quantum dot film for liquid-crystal displays (see page 39), to a new glass for exawatt-class lasers (see page 23) and a highly accurate, interferometry-based way of measuring the radius of a large optic (see page 65). Variety along with technical depth and insights are what you can expect from conferences such as SPIE DSS and this magazine.
