SPIE Photonics Europe

SPIE Photonics Europe, 14-17 April in Brussels, will offer programs dealing with many of the toughest issues facing optics and photonics technologies today while also providing a window on the industry’s bright future under Europe’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

And three days of “Hot Topics in Photonics” plenary talks will cover plans for the International Year of Light (IYL) celebration in 2015 and recent advances in large-scale integrated photonics, biophotonics, silicon photonics, nonlinear optics, diode lasers, and on-chip nanophotonics.

Photonics Europe will open with the presentation of two SPIE annual awards by SPIE President H. Philip Stahl. Brian C. Wilson of the Ontario Cancer Institute (Canada) will receive the Britton Chance Biomedical Optics Award. Wilson, who is being recognized for 30 years of pioneering contributions to biomedical optics, will also present a plenary talk on nanoparticle-enabled endoscopy.

Stahl will also present the 2014 SPIE Dennis Gabor Award to Pramod Rastogi of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). Rastogi has conducted groundbreaking research in the development of high-resolution and multi-component parametric-phase formulation methods for the simultaneous estimation of multiple phases and their derivatives from holographic-interference patterns.

In addition to Wilson, plenary speakers will be SPIE member John Dudley of Université de Franche-Comté (France), Wolfgang Boch, the new head of the European Commission’s Photonics Unit, and silicon photonics expert Michal Lipson, an SPIE member from Cornell University (USA).

Dudley, chairman of the IYL2015 steering committee, will discuss the goals and plans for the IYL while Boch will give an overview of photonics-related funding opportunities under Horizon 2020. Lipson will discuss advances in ultrahigh-speed devices.

Other plenary speakers are:

• Raymond G. Beausoleil of HP (USA)

• SPIE member Frank Koppens of Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (Spain)

• Marc Sciamanna of Supélec (France)

• John Sipe of University of Toronto

The industry program at SPIE Photonics Europe, a series of executive briefings on expanding photonics markets, current trends, and opportunities, will include talks on laser-additive manufacturing, the Photonics21 Public-Private Partnership, and two EU regulations that some believe will have an extremely negative impact on the manufacturing of optical glass.

Two talks will cover Registration, Evaluation and Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS).

SPIE Fellow Peter Hartmann of SCHOTT (Germany) will explain the scientific and technological background on why RoHS and REACH are endangering key enabling optical materials. (See Hartmann’s article on the regulations). Wenko Süptitz of SPECTARIS (Germany) is to discuss what measures the photonics industry can take to minimize the damage caused by RoHS and REACH.

Additional speakers in the SPIE Photonics Europe industry program include:

• SPIE industry and market strategist Stephen G. Anderson, discussing an ongoing SPIE project to measure the economic impact of the photonics industry

• SPIE Fellow Reinhart Poprawe, Fraunhofer ILT (Germany), on laser-additive manufacturing and the vision of 3D printing

• Elisabeth Leitner, Deutsches Institut für Normung (Germany), on ISO standardization of optics and photonics

• Els Van de Velde, IDEA Consult (Belgium), on a project to track the implementation of key enabling technologies (KETs) in Europe

• Peter Peumans, IMEC (Belgium), on integrated photonics for life sciences

• Anthony Hillion, Aquiti Gestion (France), on venture capital for photonics.

Along with 18 conferences covering neurophotonics, silicon photonics, quantum optics, semiconductor lasers, micro- and nanotechnologies, metamaterials, and other topics, SPIE Photonics Europe includes an exhibition 15-16 April and:

• SPIE Student Chapter Leadership Workshop

• SPIE Women in Optics presentation and reception

• Professional development speaker series

• Poster sessions

• Photonics Innovation Village

The 6th edition of the Photonics Innovation Village, a competition designed to support and encourage the transfer of optics/photonics research and technology into new and useful products, will be held  15-16 April.

Organized by Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), the Innovation Village provides each participant team with a complimentary mini-booth in a high-traffic section of the SPIE Photonics Europe exhibition in the Square Brussels Meeting Centre.

Awards will be made in three categories, with winners determined by representatives from the European Commission Photonics Unit; SPIE, Photonics21; VUB; a bank or venture-capital company; and a large European photonics company.

Winners each will receive €1500, and first and second runners-up receive €500 each.

The Photonics Innovation Village is open to all registered attendees of the conference and exhibition. Winners will be announced 16 April.

General chairs of SPIE Photonics Europe are Ronan Burgess of the European Commission Joint Research Centre (Belgium) and SPIE Fellows Francis Berghmans of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) (Belgium), Jürgen Popp of the Institute of Photonic Technology Jena (Germany), and Hartmann of SCHOTT. Honorary chair is SPIE Fellow Hugo Thienpont of VUB.

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