Exhibitors and Prism Awards at Photonics West

SPIE Photonics West closed Thursday afternoon after its San Francisco debut with the final attendance count at 18,327, a record for the event.

Exhibition traffic was strong for much of the day, with the right companies and visitors in the halls: "This exhibition is out of this world!" in the words of Peter Moulton of Q-Peak. The move to Moscone Center had enabled more companies to exhibit than in the past. Both the Photonics West exhbition, with 1,147 compaies, and the BiOS exhibition, with 178, were larger than ever this year.

Ömür Sezerman of OZ Optics, offered this comment: "Photonics West is the best show in the world when it comes to photonics." 

Nine companies were honored for innovation at the Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation banquet at the Hilton Hotel. Among the presenters was Kathleen Maiman, widow of Theodore Maiman, inventor of the first laser. The awards, sponsored by SPIE and Laurin Publishing, went to:

• National Semiconductor, for Sustainable/Green Technologies
• LightLab, for Life Sciences
• Linden Photonics, for Photonics Processes
• InfraTec InfraRed, for Detectors, Sensing & Imaging
• Agilent Technologies and Leighton Electronics (tie), for Analytical, Test & Measurement
• Hamamatsu, for Other Light Sources
• IRphotonics, for Photonics Systems
• Swamp Optics, for Optics
• Laser Operations, for Lasers  

Read more at our onsite news page.

See photos from Photonics West.