ICALEO 2010 Celebrates All Things Laser

The International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics (ICALEO®) has a 28-year history as the conference where researchers and end-users meet to review the state-of-the art in laser materials processing and predict where the future will lead. From its inception, ICALEO has been devoted to the field of laser materials processing and is viewed as the premier source of technical information in the field.

LIA is pleased to announced that the 29th ICALEO will be held Sept. 26-30, 2010 at the Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, Calif. ICALEO 2010 will include three conferences, the Laser Materials Processing Conference, the Laser Microprocessing Conference and the Nanomanufacturing Conference as well as the Laser Solutions Short Courses, a business forum and plenty of networking opportunities. This year's conference will feature a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the laser.

Congress General Chair Xinbing Liu of Panasonic Boston Laboratory, Cambridge, Mass., said, "As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the invention of the laser that created the entire science, technology and industry in which we work, and in continuing the tradition that began 28 years ago, the ICALEO Program Committee has put together yet another strong program with a high number of contributions from researchers from both academia and industries all over the world in areas of traditional and emerging laser applications."

In addition, LIA will present its first Lifetime Achievement Award to laser pioneer Dr. Charles Townes and the Schawlow Award to Dr. Steven Chu at the 29th International Congress on Applications of Lasers and Electro-Optics (ICALEO® 2010), which will be held in Anaheim, Calif. Sept. 26-30.

Townes, 94, won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1964 "for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle," according to the Nobel committee. The then-provost and professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shared the award with Nicolay Basov and Aleksandr Prokhorov of the USSR. Their work was among the critical early steps in the development of the laser, which is 50 years old this year.

LIA will also present U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu with the 2010 Arthur L. Schawlow Award at ICALEO 2010. Chu, co-winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light, will receive the honor during a luncheon Sept. 29 and speak during the event. Laser pioneer Schawlow nominated Chu for the Nobel while the two were colleagues at Stanford University.

Interesting At ICALEO
This year's plenary session will feature an environmental theme, with a keynote by Jeff Morris, National Program Director for Nanotechnology Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Morris will present EPA's viewpoint on being smart about the development and deployment of new technologies. Other plenary session presentations will cover progress on laser and processing technologies used in various fields.

ICALEO's three conferences will cover an array of laser applications. The Laser Materials Processing Conference (LMP), organized by Klaus Löffler, continues its theme on high speed, efficient and flexible macroscopic laser processing applications and equipment and systems. With the 50th anniversary of the laser, the time is right to regain momentum even for one of the first laser applications, "laser cladding." This year's LMP has once again experienced a high number of submitted abstracts. This is especially exciting with the prospective of opening up new markets, thus increasing the number of abstracts outside the traditional application fields. Sessions include challenges of high brightness lasers, hybrid laser welding, materials and processes of laser metal deposition and direct laser manufacturing.

The Laser Microprocessing Conference (LMF) is chaired by Kunihiko Washio and will cover processes and systems for microscopic applications, especially those that take advantage of the small feature sizes and high precision offered by short wavelength and ultrafast lasers. The application fields of laser microprocessing are rapidly growing and as a result, short and ultrafast laser processing will continue to be a major topic. This year's LMF will have technical sessions on various topics including picosecond and femtosecond laser processing, advanced lasers and optical systems for microprocessing, pulse-shape and tailored-beam control of laser interaction and laser processing of silicon solar cells. Other topics include microjoining, micromachining and drilling, chemical and media-assisted laser processing, micromachining of brittle materials, microprocessing of glasses and other transparent materials and biomedical applications.

This year's Nanomanufacturing Conference is co-chaired by Yongfeng Lu and Xianfan Xu. Much progress has been achieved in laser direct writing for nano-machinning, nanofabrication using femtosecond lasers and laser-assisted growth of nanostructures. This conference will highlight research in emerging nanomanufacturing technologies in 3-D micro/nanomachining, holographic and 2-photon lithography, surface nanostructuring and laser-assisted growth and expitaxy. These studies encompass a variety of applications, including dynamics study of micro-organisms, photonic crystals, nanofluidic devices, opto-fluidic and scaffolding devices and nanoscale plasmonic structures.

The Poster Presentation Gallery will also be a feature of the conference. The gallery will provide an opportunity for presenters to exhibit their research and share ideas with other professionals who have interest in laser materials processing. The Student Paper Award Contest is LIA's way of showing appreciation for student contributions to ICALEO. This award gives students a chance to have their work recognized and evaluated by an international panel of laser and photonics experts. Cash awards will be presented to first, second and third place winners in addition to having their papers submitted to LIA's Journal of Laser Applications® for publication and peer review.

It's Just Business
The ICALEO Business Forum & Panel Discussion provides attendees with an exclusive opportunity to listen to and interact with industry experts, business leaders and decision makers on significant issues facing the laser and photonics industry. In keeping with the theme of ICALEO 2010 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the laser, this year's panel discussion organized by Neil Ball and Sri Venkat, will look back at the key accomplishments of the past 50 years of lasers and attempt to project what the future holds for the laser industry.

For the first time, the Laser Solutions Short Courses, chaired by Stefan Kairle, will be held within a full day session prior to the main conference so every participant has the chance to attend this event. This day offers delegates an opportunity for a technical refresher or an insight into a new area of industrial photonics with the chance to attend a number of "hot-topic" solutions courses. A series of short courses taught by industrial photonics experts will address fundamentals related to lasers, optics, material processing and applications. These short courses have been chosen to complement the other ICALEO activities and the LIA experience.

That's Not All
Besides providing a wealth of technical information through its conferences, ICALEO 2010 offers plenty of networking and social opportunities as well. Sunday night's Welcome Celebration is a fun and festive time featuring live entertainment. The next night's President's Reception is hosted by LIA President Nathaniel Quick and is where attendees can meet the LIA Executive Committee, Board of Directors and ICALEO chairs.

After completion of the technical sessions on Tuesday, enjoy drinks and hors d'oeuvres while sharing product ideas with your colleagues and suppliers at the Laser Industry Vendor Reception & Tabletop Display. This event gives exhibitors and conference attendees the opportunity to discuss equipment and applications in a relaxed setting.

In Closing
Like every other laser-related conference this year, ICALEO is also celebrating the 50th anniversary of the invention of the laser. To mark 50 years of this truly paradigm changing scientific and technological discipline, LIA is organizing a special closing plenary session. Four laser industry veterans with distinguished careers and long association with ICALEO will be speaking at the session: Dr. Kumar Patel, inventor of carbon dioxide laser and winner of LIA's Schawlow Award in 1984; Dr. David Sliney, a pioneer in laser safety and laser-human interactions and Schawlow Award recipient in 2005; Dr. Marshall Jones, an early industrial laser applications developer and Schawlow award winner in 2007 and Bill Lawson, a veteran entrepreneur in employing laser processing technology in production. They will share their vision and outlook on the past, present and future of laser science, technology and industry. They will also share their personal stories – both triumphs and struggles – of working with the laser. This will be a rare opportunity to hear about laser history directly from the people who made it.

Whether you are a research scientist, an industrial engineer, a professional in the laser business, a student of laser physics and electro-optics or just someone who is intrigued by the frontiers of laser technology and the future of alternative energy, you won't want to miss this extraordinary gathering of some of the top minds from all corners of the laser and photonics field.

ICALEO Advance Program Available, Registration Open
The Advance Program for ICALEO 2010 is now available. The Advance Program provides details for the technical sessions, poster presentations, vendor tabletop display and reception and short courses offered during ICALEO.

Additionally, registration for ICALEO is now open and various sponsorship and vendor opportunities are still available. Visit www.ICALEO.org to download the Advance Program, to register and to learn more about sponsorship or vendor opportunities, contact Dave Evans at 1-800-34-LASER or e-mail devans@laserinstitute.org.

For more information about ICALEO 2010, to view the full advance program and to register, visit www.icaleo.org.

SOURCE: Laser Institute of America (LIA)