Bright Ideas — Photonics West 2023 Edition
By John Oncea, Editor
Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in optics and photonics. This week, we look at news from and about SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics’ Photonics West 2023 event.
Let’s start with SPIE’s announcement of the 21 recipients of its 2023 Society awards, an exciting range of stellar achievements across light-based sciences and technologies. The awards honor transformative advancements in a variety of professional areas — including medicine, astronomy, lithography, optical metrology, optical design, and community leadership. They also recognize technical accomplishments, as well as committed service to SPIE and support of its organizational mission. Hit the first link to see a summary of all 21 recipients, or click here for more information about them.
The January 11 edition of our newsletter provides much of the who, what, where, when, and why of Photonics West 2023. We also provide a list of some of the many, many exhibitors who will be setting up shop there.
Check out Photonics West-related social media (#PhotonicsWest) ahead of or during the event on the following platforms:
Masoud Mahjouri-Samani, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Auburn University (go Tigers!) Laser-Assisted Science and Engineering (LASE) lab, will co-chair two prestigious laser application conferences including the Nanoscale and Quantum Materials Conference at Photonics West in San Francisco. As a conference co-chair, Mahjouri-Samani's role is organizing events, inviting keynote speakers, scheduling, and “basically everything from location to times for the speaking engagements,” he said. "It was a great honor to be chosen by the conference boards when they were searching for a recognized U.S. representative in the field to co-chair these conferences. This is a great opportunity to represent Auburn University and further enhance the college's visibility on an international level.”
“As in past years,” writes Tech Briefs, “the event will kick off with BiOS, the world’s largest biomedical optics conference, before transitioning into the Photonics West conference and exhibition. This year’s event is expected to host more than 20,000 attendees who will be able to browse the products and services of approximately 1,000 exhibitors, choose from over 50 educational courses, and access more than 4,400 technical papers during the conference.” Tech Briefs provides detail on all four conferences, as well as the application tracks, educational courses, industry and social network gatherings, and exhibits.
What’s the weather going to be like? Never trust a long-range forecast but, as of 2 p.m. EST on January 12, it looks like it’s going to be highs in the mid-50s, lows in the upper 40s, and a chance of rain through January 30.
Whatever the weather, have a blast if you’re going, and if you’re not, check out our coverage here.