SPIE Micro + Nano

SPIE Micro + Nano Materials, Devices, and Applications, 6-9 December in Sydney, will be one of the last technical meetings to celebrate the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL).

This biennial forum on nano- and microscale materials and technologies will feature more than 225 oral and poster presentations on nanostructured and biocompatible materials; medical and biological micro/nanodevices; micro/nanofluidics and optofluidics; nanophotonics for biology and medical applications; plasmonics; and solar cell technologies and fabrication.

“Research activity at small scales is driving the convergence of traditionally disparate disciplines including engineering, science, biology, and medicine,” says program committee member James Friend of University of California, San Diego (USA).

The research in these areas enables promising new materials and applications across many fields including energy, security, and medicine as well as for air, water, and food quality, Friend says.

On Tuesday, 8 December, the Centre for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS) is sponsoring another in a series of talks celebrating the IYL. The event, focusing on light-science breakthroughs that have improved lives everywhere, will be open to all attendees and the general public.

Silicon photonics pioneer Michal Lipson of Columbia University (USA), one of four plenary speakers at SPIE Micro + Nano Materials, Devices, and Applications, is the featured speaker at the IYL session and will discuss how silicon photonics is helping to advance computing "at the speed of light."

Light refreshments and a champagne toast to the successful culmination of the IYL will follow her presentation.

A two-day industry showcase, Tuesday and Wednesday, will feature photonics technologies addressing industrial and research applications in nanoscience.

Plenary speakers at sessions held on Monday and Tuesday are:

• Lipson, on the strong interaction among photons, phonons, and electrons enabled by silicon photonics
• Fiorenzo Omenetto, Tufts University (USA), on silk biomaterials
• Gordon G. Wallace, University of Wollongong (Australia), on nano to macroscopic 3D fabrication

Note: A scheduled plenary talk by SPIE Fellow Xiang Zhang of University of California, Berkeley (USA), has been cancelled. Information on the alternate speaker will be updated as soon as possible.

Benjamin J. Eggleton of University of Sydney, a past president of the Australian Optical Society, is symposium chair. SPIE member Stefano Palomba, also of University of Sydney, is cochair.

More information: spie.org/AU.

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