Easier, smaller, and faster photonics

Oct. 13, 2015

The history of optical test and measurement equipment reveals a category of products that is becoming easier to use, smaller, and faster.

Conard Holton

The history of optical test and measurement equipment, as told by contributing editor Jeff Hecht in his feature this month (see page 25), reveals a category of products that is becoming easier to use, smaller, and faster. Jeff is helping us celebrate the 50th anniversary of Laser Focus World each month by reflecting on the advances in various photonics products and technologies as we have covered them over the years. And many observations made by Jeff about past advances can be applied to the technologies described in this issue, from a new generation of quantum dots able to produce single photons (see page 45) to the nanosecond pulsed fiber lasers that can now make micro-cuts in metallic materials (see page 49).

Shrinking the size of devices while making them easier to use can be a prelude to widespread commercial adoption—a process that is beginning to happen with light detection and ranging (lidar) systems for automated vehicles from the likes of Google, Uber, BMW, and Ford. Miniature and even credit-card-size lidar systems are being introduced that could soon have a major impact on transportation and potentially many other markets, as reported in this issue by our senior editor Gail Overton (see page 39).

The prospect for such lidar systems is also the subject of a panel of investors, analysts, and product experts at the 28th annual Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar, to be held February 15th during SPIE Photonics West. Other topics at the Seminar include the potentially disruptive technologies of kagome fiber, quantum cascade lasers in biomedicine, and laser projection displays and remote lighting. We will also have speakers on the state of laser markets in China, the new U.S. integrated photonics manufacturing institute, and the revival of investment in solar energy, which has implications for laser manufacturers.

At the Seminar and in our January issue, we will as always have our complete forecast for the 2016 global laser markets. Predictably, the future will hinge on easier-to-use, smaller, and faster photonics.

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.