Photonics pioneers Federico Capasso and Paul B. Corkum will be featured at the opening session on 19 August at the San Diego Convention Center
BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA, and Cardiff, UK - SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, announced today that its two symposia-wide plenary speakers at SPIE Optics +Photonics 2018 will be Federico Capasso, of the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, and Paul B. Corkum, of the University of Ottawa's Joint Laboratory for Attosecond Science and the National Research Council of Canada. Both are SPIE Fellows, and both are winners of the SPIE Gold Medal, in 2013 and 2018 respectively. The Gold Medal, the highest honor the Society bestows, is awarded annually for outstanding engineering or scientific accomplishments in optics, electro-optics, or photographic technologies or applications. Corkum will be receiving his Gold Medal Award during O+P's award banquet on 22 August.
At the 19 August evening plenary session, Corkum, a 2014 recipient of the Citation Laureate, will present on the subject of "Photon Management Through In Situ Photo Conversion with Optical Nanotransformer: Fundamentals to Emerging Technological Applications." Capasso, will discuss "Metasurface Flat Optics: Unifying Semiconductor Manufacturing and Lens making."
"I envision a future of digital optics based on metasurfaces with increased density of optical components and functionalities per metasurface," Capasso states in his abstract. "It is tempting to speculate that an empirical law might govern its growth, akin to Moore's Law for digital electronics."
A unifying theme of Capasso's research is the quantum design and study of new artificial materials and nanostructures with man-made electronic and optical properties, an approach that he pioneered and dubbed bandstructure engineering and which led Capasso and his colleagues, then at Bell Labs, to the invention of the quantum cascade laser.
Corkum, a pioneer in attosecond science, is best known for introducing many of the concepts of how intense light pulses interact with atoms, molecules, and solids, and then confirming the concepts experimentally. He was the first to show how to make and measure an attosecond pulse and how this new technology could be used to image atomic-scale structure.
"Federico Capasso and Paul Corkum are clearly at the forefront of photonics innovation," says SPIE Director of Science and Technology, Bob Hainsey. "Their plenary talks will encompass a rich range of fundamental and emerging areas including quantum technology, lasers, attosecond science and optical engineering applications. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear these experts share their research and communicate their vision for the future of their respective fields at SPIE Optics + Photonics in San Diego in August."
The SPIE Optics + Photonics annual conference showcases emerging technologies along with core optics and photonics technologies and applications. Conference topics include nanophotonics and quantum technologies, organic photonics, and optical engineering technologies plus applications. The conference welcomes approximately 4,000 attendees as well as 160-180 exhibitors to its San Diego home.
About SPIE
SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering, and technology. The Society serves nearly 264,000 constituents from approximately 166 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals, and the SPIE Digital Library. In 2017, SPIE provided more than $4 million in support of education and outreach programs. www.spie.org.
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