2024 SPIE Prism Award Finalists Announced

SPIE has named 27 finalists for the 2024 Prism Awards. The companies — ranging from emerging innovators to industry stalwarts — selected in nine categories, will be honored during a Jan. 31 gala evening at Photonics West. The annual event, which will be celebrating its 16th year, recognizes industrial innovation in photonics, honoring companies that are bringing transformative products to market.

Rapidly developing technology areas — encompassing augmented and virtual reality hardware, sensors, quantum, autonomy, and lasers — showcase the range and variety of this year's entries and finalists. Newer companies, such as PhotoSound Technologies, ANELLO Photonics, Heliotis, DigiLens, Redback Systems, and Qunnect, will share the stage alongside more established companies such as EKSPLA, TRUMPF, Thorlabs, Inc., and ams OSRAM.

The 2024 SPIE Prism Awards will honor companies for breakthrough photonics innovations. The awards, presented in a ceremony at Photonics West next year, will recognize awardees in nine categories. Courtesy of SPIE.

This year, in addition to the regular slate of awards in areas ranging from healthcare and sensing to lasers and quantum, SPIE is introducing the SPIE Catalyst Award. This recognition honors for-profit companies with specific social or environmentally focused programs that have had significant positive impact, either within their workplace, on society at large, or on the environment. Finalists for the inaugural Catalyst Award are Ball Aerospace, Intel Corporation, and Thorlabs.

The Award finalists and their competing products and programs, by category:

AR/VR/MR
• DigiLens Inc., ARGOTM
• LetinAR, PinTILTTM
• Porotech, DPT (DynamicPixelTurning)

Autonomy
• ANELLO Photonics LLC, SiPhOGTM (Silicon Photonics Optical Gyroscope)
• Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF), microArch S350
• Santec, Wafer Thickness Mapping System TMS-2000

Biomedical
• JenLab GmbH, MPTcompact
• Ondine Biomedical Inc., Steriwave nasal photodisinfection
• PhotoSound Technologies Inc., MoleculUS

Cameras and imaging
• Heliotis AG, heliCam C4
• Optotune Switzerland AG, ELM-75
• Thorlabs, Inc., Prelude Functional Imaging Microscope

Lasers
• EKSPLA, FemtoLux 30
• inPhocal, PHOC-1
• TRUMPF, TOP Cleave 3D

Quantum tech
• AUREA Technology, GIGAXEA GHz photon detector
• Qunnect, QU-APC
• Ushio Inc., HL70021DG and HL70031DG

Sensors
• ams OSRAM AG, TCS3530 True Color Sensor
• Pixel Photonics GmbH, WI-SNSPD (Waveguide-Integrated Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detector)
• Scantinel Photonics GmbH, Scantinel X-One

Software
• Frenel Imaging, TPiCORE
• LightTrans International GmbH, VirtualLab Fusion – Distributed Computing Package
• PlanOpSim, PlanOpSim

Test and measurement
• LithOptek LLC, CDOP (CD-Optimizer)
• Persistence Data Mining, Inc., Soilytics
• Redback Systems Pty Ltd., RS10k

Catalyst
• Ball Aerospace, GEMS (Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer) and TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution)
• Intel Corporation, Quick Start Semiconductor Technical Training program and Relaunch Your Career career-returning program
• Thorlabs, Inc., Thorlabs Mobile Photonics Lab Experience