The Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), under The Optical Society (OSA) and to be held May 13-18 in San Jose, is a technology playground. It showcases optoelectronics technologies and lasers, in addition to research findings and industry applications. Attendees can examine new scientific ideas, engineering concepts, and emerging applications in fields such as biophotonics, optical communications, and light sources.
This year, CLEO will include a celebration of the International Day of Light — May 16 — with special plenary sessions. Those who are not attending CLEO may live stream the sessions online that day. Speakers include:
• John C. Mather, a senior astrophysicist in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, who will discuss exploring the Universe at the speed of light;
• Nader Engheta, Ph.D., the H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who will discuss metaphotonics;
• Jian-Wei Pan, a professor and director of the Division of Quantum Physics and Quantum Information at the University of Science and Technology of China, who will cover global quantum communication networks.
Numerous special symposia sessions are hosted by leaders in various fields, speaking on topics proposed by those in the industry. This year’s themes include integrated microwave photonics, quantum sensing techniques, terahertz nanoscopy, and adaptive optics retinal imaging. Among the presenters are Juerg Leuthold of ETH Zurich in Switzerland, Ania Bleszynski Jayich of the University of California, Santa Barbara, Pernille Klarskov Pedersen of Brown University, and Félicie Albert of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Short courses offer the latest information on photonics technologies and applications as well as emerging fields. They cover a range of topics, from quantum cascade lasers and plasmonics to silicon integrated nanophotonics and nonlinear optics.
Core event segments enhance attendees’ CLEO experience.
The Fundamental Science segment of CLEO allows scientists and engineers to present the newest research results in physics-related areas of optics, in addition to modern spectroscopy, nanophotonics, quantum optics, optical materials, and nonlinear optics, among others. Numerous industry experts will be speaking during this segment, alongside short courses focusing on topics such as nonlinear optics, quantum cascade lasers, optomechanics, and ultrafast optics.
Tracks within the Fundamental Science segment include Quantum Optics of Atoms, Molecules and Solids, Optical Excitations and Ultrafast Phenomena in Condensed Matter, and High-Field Physics and Attoscience. Speakers leading these tracks hail from academic institutions and laboratories around the world, such as Technische Universiteit Delft in the Netherlands, Cornell University, University of Southampton (U.K.), the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light, and The Australian National University.
Reporting applied research results on all types of lasers, optical materials and photonic devices, the Science & Innovations segment focuses on areas such as laser processing of materials, terahertz technologies, high-field and ultrafast optics, optical communications, biophotonics, optical sensing and metrology, micro- and nanophotonics, and non-linear optics.
Specific sessions include Light-Matter Interactions and Materials Processing, Semiconductor Lasers, and Nonlinear Optical Technologies. Among those speaking will be Stephen Gray of Argonne National Laboratory, Jelena Vuckovic of Stanford University, and Patrick Georges of the Institut d'Optique, France.
In the Applications & Technology segment of CLEO, the latest advancements in applied optics and photonics are presented, along with discussions about potential product applications. Commercial technologies are demonstrated in new components, advanced processing technology, and optoelectronic systems.
Sessions in this segment aim to provide proof-of-concept prototypes, field trials and test data, and manufacturing advances in areas such as metrology, LEDs and solar cells, biomedical applications, industrial instrumentation, and other end-user markets. The sessions will be led by scientists and researchers from academia and industry, including Aydogan Ozcan of the University of California, Los Angeles, Anne Perring of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, and Paolo Cassano of Massachusetts General Hospital.
Awards and Honors
CLEO is a place where photonics innovators, researchers, and scientists are recognized.
Peter Fritschel of the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research at MIT, will receive the Charles Hard Townes Award for advances in quantum-limited precision measurement in advanced LIGO detectors, leading to the first direct detection of gravitational waves.
Andrea Armani of the University of Southern California will receive OSA Fellow recognition for her contributions to integrated photonics, with applications in telecommunications and chemical and biological detection. Heike Ebendorff-Heidpriem of the University of Adelaide in Australia, also will be honored with this distinction for her groundbreaking science contributions to the field of optical glasses and fibers, as will Goëry Genty of Tampere University of Technology in Finland, for his pioneering research in the study of supercontinuum generation and nonlinear instabilities in optical fibers.
In addition, IEEE Photonics Society Fellows in 2018 will honor Michael Krames of Arkesso LLC, for leadership in GaN-based light-emitting device physics and commercialization; and Hong-bo Sun of Tsinghua University in China, for contributions to laser nanofabrication and ultrafast spectroscopy.
CLEO Exhibition
The sizable exhibition at CLEO will host about 200 companies and organizations from around the world. Alpes Laser Solutions, Laser Quantum Inc., M Squared Lasers Ltd., Swamp Optics, and Energetiq Technology Inc. are among them.
Live, hands-on product demonstrations will be offered throughout the exhibition. The Technology Playground segment provides the opportunity for one-on-one interaction with industry leaders and technology presentations. Attendees are provided with a playing card with which to visit all Playground participating exhibitors; those who return a completed playing card are entered into a daily drawing for a cash prize.
For more information about CLEO 2018, visit www.cleoconference.org.