SPIE Europe Meetings
EUV, VUV, and x-rays are experiencing a renewed, or even re-renewed, interest as researchers find new applications for these technologies, from semiconductors to optics manufacturing to the defense and security industry.
“X-ray light sources have advanced presently to the third generation, and perhaps this year or next, the world will have fourth generation light sources via the X-ray Free Electron Lasers,” says Toshiki Tajima of Japan Atomic Energy Agency, KEK Institute (Japan) and Ludwig Maximilian University (Germany). However, Tajima points out that there is a need to explore and develop new sources, as the machines that power these processes can be large and very expensive.
“Novel radiation sources we investigate may be as effective, but [are] an order of magnitude (or even two) less expensive and smaller,” he says.
Tajima is a featured presenter at a new symposium, EUV and X-ray Optics: Synergy Between Laboratory and Space, at SPIE Europe Optics+Optoelectronics, 20–24 April in Prague.
Tajima will discuss Harnessing Novel Radiation Sources from THz to X-rays and Beyond with Relativistic Engineering. His talk will provide an overview of breakthrough techniques such as the relativistic flying mirror for ultrashort and intensive x-rays. “Lasers of today are of extraordinary capacity to push the envelope of the future technology,” Tajima says.
SPIE Europe Optics+Optoelectronics also features conferences on metamaterials, nonlinear optics, and holography, as well as two timely workshops. The workshop Emerging European Laser Facilities: Beyond Petawatt will focus on the status and progress of high-power laser facilities such as the High Power laser Energy Research facility (HiPER), the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI), and the European X-Ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL). The CESLAB: Challenges in Optics and Optoelectronics workshop will provide an inside look at the new Central European Synchrotron Laboratory due to open in 2015.
SPIE Europe is hosting a number of other events on major optics and photonics issues this spring.
Microtechnologies for the New Millennium will take place 4–6 May in Dresden, Germany, a major hub of the European semiconductor industry. SPIE Europe is collaborating with VDI, the largest engineering association in Europe, to put this forum together. The meeting is also being supported by the magazine mstnews.
In the Nanotechnology conference at the symposium, special attention will be given to nano-bio hybrid systems, bio-inspired sensory-processing-actuating circuits and systems, electronic and electromechanical prosthesis, and other biological or soft material integration with nanotechnologies.
Nanotechnology has moved well past its infancy, and researchers are developing novel fabrication techniques and hybridization of different materials, revealing a wealth of new applications and findings and learning from past missteps. Nanotech researchers are finding applications to repair biological damage caused by neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s and to improve fuel efficiency. They’re also opening new avenues for analyzing or contact-free mapping of strain-engineered electronic devices.
Four other conferences–Smart Sensors, Actuators and MEMS; VLSI Circuits and Systems; Bioengineered and Bioinspired Systems; and Photonic Materials, Devices, and Applications– touch upon all of the recent discoveries and industry trends in microtechnologies.
In a truly collaborative effort, both the SPIE Europe Optical Metrology and the European Conferences on Biomedical Optics (ECBO) are collocated again this year with the 2009 World of Photonics Congress, Europe's longest-running event in optics and photonics, in Munich, Germany, 14–19 June.
Three conferences, Optical Measurement Systems for Industrial Inspection VI, Modeling Aspects in Optical Metrology, and O3A: Optics for Arts, Architecture and Archaeology, will be held at SPIE Europe Optical Metrology.
Optical metrology has become crucial in industrial settings and for defense and security purposes. The design and implementation of robust optical systems for these applications will be addressed in the conference Optical Measurement Systems for Industrial Inspection.
Another opportunity to learn about the latest technologies is the joint session Metrology of Advanced Optics, which will be co-organized with the European Optical Society’s conference, Manufacturing of Optical Components.
Christopher Dainty, head of the Applied Optics Group of the National University of Ireland, will give a plenary talk on adaptive optics. Dainty serves on the board of the European technology platform Photonics21 and is on the external/scientific advisory boards of The Center for Adaptive Optics (University of California Santa Cruz, USA) and The Institute of Photonic Sciences (Barcelona, Spain).
SPIE Europe Optical Metrology will be chaired by SPIE Fellows Wolfgang Osten, Technical University Stuttgart, Germany; 2005 SPIE President Malgorzata Kujawinska, Politechnika Warszawska, Poland; and Pietro Ferraro, Instituto Nazionale di Ottica Applicata, Italy.
The European Conferences on Biomedical Optics (ECBO), co-sponsored by SPIE and the OSA, brings together scientists, engineers and clinicians working to solve problems in medicine and biomedicine. Those problems are particularly important to the quickly aging population in Europe and the United States, as more citizens will need medical care and life-saving medical intervention. The over-65 population in the EU is anticipated to rise from 15% in 1995 to 22% by 2025.1
Biomedical breakthroughs happening today can ensure baby boomers experience a happy, healthy retirement.
Conferences at ECBO include Advanced Microscopy Techniques, Clinical and Biomedical Spectroscopy, Diffuse Optical Imaging, and Molecular Imaging. General chairs for the event are Mary-Ann Mycek, University of Michigan, USA; and Wolfgang Drexler, Cardiff University, UK. Program chairs are Christoph K. Hitzenberger, Medical University of Vienna, Austria; and Brian W. Pogue, Dartmouth University, USA.
The Laser World of Photonics, an international trade fair for optical technologies including components, systems and applications, will also be collocated with SPIE Europe Optical Metrology and ECBO.
