The hottest topics, trends and developments in biomedical optics, lasers, LEDs, fiber optic components and devices, nanotechnology, microfabrication and more will be presented during Photonics West 2008, the most important North American exhibition on photonics technology. The six-day SPIE conference and exhibition is expected to draw more than 17,000 participants from 50 countries and will take place Jan. 19-24, 2008, at the San Jose Convention Center. The brightest minds in the photonics industry will discuss their work, which represents the entire spectrum of photon-based technologies and research, during four symposia: BiOS, LASE, MOEMS/MEMS and OPTO. Approximately 3100 technical papers will be presented during 85 conferences, and 80 technical courses and workshops will be offered. The latest innovations in photonics products will also be on exhibit from 1100 participating companies. Photonics West 2008 will feature 85 conferences, 80 technical courses and workshops and the presentation of about 3100 technical papers on work representing the spectrum of photon-based technologies. The event begins with the two-day biomedical optics symposia, BiOS 2008, which draws more than 1500 attendees to the 1200 presentations on molecular imaging, therapeutic lasers, biomedical optics, nano- and biophotonics, biosensors and spectroscopic/microscopic imaging. The symposia and the exhibition of 150 companies provides the ideal venue for interacting with the early adopters of the newest biomedical technologies, as well as a launch pad for new applications and technologies in diagnostics, therapeutics and instrumentation. Hot BiOS topics this year include: Progress in therapeutic lasers, imaging and treating cancer using gold nanoparticles, using diffuse optics to monitor and predict chemotherapy, photoacoustic microscopy and computed tomography, multidimensional fluorescence imaging and probing pancreatic disease using tissue optical spectroscopy. Those who should attend the event include medical and optical physicists, biomedical researchers, optical instrument developers, physicians, bioengineers, cancer therapists, equipment designers and pharmacologists. Attendees of LASE 2008, Lasers and Applications in Science and Engineering, will hear the latest advances in basic laser device research and in laser materials, device and system engineering for various applications ranging from emerging nanotechnologies, microelectronic and photonic manufacturing and free-space communications to use on the industrial manufacturing floor. The conference that bridges the gap between laser science and practical source technology will include courses and presentations on laser source engineering, nonlinear optics, semiconductor lasers and LEDs, laser communication and propagation and laser micro- and nanoengineering and applications.The LASE plenary session will feature talks by Dieter Bäuerle, at the Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria; Holger Schlueter, vice president, laser, Trumpf; and Henry F. Dylla, CEO and executive director of the American Institute of Physics in College Park, Md. Bäuerle will speak on laser processing and chemistry and their applications in nanopatterning, material synthesis and biotechnology. In particular, he will discuss submicron- and nanopatterning of surfaces by means of nearfield optical techniques and by 2-D lattices of microlenses formed by self-organization processes. He will also speak on recent results in in the modification of material surfaces, and in particular of PTFE (Teflon) and its applications in biotechnology and medicine. Schlueter will talk about three of Trumpf's laser case studies -- diffusion-cooled coaxial CO2 laser geometry, the thin-disk laser story and the saga of making high-power diode lasers the preferred method for solid-state laser pumping -- as part of his presentation, "The Long Journey from Idea to Industrial Success." A case study of a kilowatt-class free electron laser (FEL), the world's most powerful tunable laser, will be presented by Dylla. He is the former Free Electron Laser Div. associate director and chief technology officer at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. A special session on extreme light will be held during LASE 2008 and will feature a presentation on particle acceleration by stimulated emission of radiation (PASER), a particle analog of the laser process first demonstrated by a team of physicists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology using the accelerator facilities at Brookhaven National Lab. Papers on the PASER will be presented in conjunction with the conference "Commercial and Biomedical Applications of Ultrafast Lasers VIII" and will be followed by a roundtable discussion, "Perspectives of Laser-Based Accelerators in Medicine and Biology," chaired by Levi Schachter, PhD, of Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. 1100 companies are expected to participate in the Photonics West 2008 exhibition. Also during LASE 2008, the technical group on laser communications will hold its annual meeting in conjunction with the Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XX conference. All professionals involved in applications of free-space laser communications and supporting technologies are invited to participate in an open discussion on topics related to the challenges and advancement of the field. Members and visitors are invited to bring suggestions for discussion topics. The symposia MEMS/MOEMS 2008 will feature the latest in micro- and nanofabrication to enable the mass-produced miniaturized electromechanical and optical products and systems of the future. During the plenary event, Michael Douglas, reliability engineer with Texas Instruments, will focus his talk on the reliability of MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) and MOEMS (micro-optoelectromechanical systems) and their potential applications in mobile media, consumer electronics, biomedicine and homeland security. Optically transduced MEMS resonators will be the focus of a plenary presentation by Harold Craighead, director of the Nanobiotechnology Center at Cornell University; while Randy Sprague, chief engineer at Microvision, will discuss high-resolution, MEMS-based displays during his talk. Each year, one of the sessions at MEMS/MOEMS illuminates an emerging area of interest. This year's focus will be on transducers at the micro-nano interface. OPTO 2008 addresses the latest advances in a broad range of optoelectronic technologies and their integration for a variety of photonic applications. How optics and optoelectronic devices will play a major role in bringing about the "Tera Era" -- terabits, teraflops and terahertz -- will also be discussed. Plenary session speakers will be Eli Yablonovitch, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, who will discuss nanophotonics, from photonic crystals to plasmonics; and Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci, Ordinarius Professor for physical chemistry and the founding director of the Linzer Institut für organische Solarzellen (LIOS) at the Johannes Kepler University of Linz, who will speak on organic "plastic" optoelectronic devices. For more information or to register, visit: http://spie.org/pw