The trade fair is targeting dynamic and growing applications in which optical technologies provide a clear boost to knowledge, productivity, and process reliability. Here’s a brief introduction to what you will find at “the fair” this summer. There’s much more on the trade fair website: www.world-of-photonics.com.
The exhibition itself is very large and comprehensive, with halls or parts of halls focused exclusively on 10 different application areas:
- Illumination and energy
- Biophotonics and medical technology
- Imaging
- Lasers and laser systems for production engineering
- Sensors, test and measurement, and optical measurement systems
- Lasers and optoelectronics
- Manufacturing technology for optics
- Optics
- Optical information and communication
- Security
World of Photonics Congress
The seven scientific conferences with plenaries and joint sessions, as well as a practice-oriented lecture program of the World of Photonics Congress, reflect the close relationship between research and industry and the focus on photonics applications in the industrial, scientific, and medical sectors (see Fig. 2).
CLEO/Europe – EQEC 2019
The Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/Europe and the European Quantum Electronics Conference will showcase laser source development, materials, ultrafast science, fiber optics, nonlinear optics, terahertz sources, high-field physics, optical telecommunications, nanophotonics, biophotonics, and laser material processsing. EQEC will feature the fundamentals of quantum optics, quantum information and communication, ultracold quantum matter, precision metrology, ultrafast optical science, nonlinear phenomena and self-organization, plasmonics and metamaterials, fundamental nanooptics, two-dimensional materials, and theoretical and computational photonics.
ECBO – 2019
The European Conferences on Biomedical Optics (ECBO) is sponsored by OSA and SPIE, and brings together scientists, engineers, and clinicians who work with optics and photonics to solve problems in medicine and biomedicine. Presentations will cover basic science, novel technology, and applications in the areas of advanced microscopy, clinical and biomedical spectroscopy, diffuse optical imaging, molecular imaging, optical coherence tomography, therapeutic laser applications, laser-tissue interactions, optoacoustic methods, and other novel biophotonics techniques.
Lasers in Manufacturing (LiM 2019)
The Lasers in Manufacturing (LiM) 2019 is a scientific conference on both the latest advances and the future trends in the field of laser materials processing, including its potential for industrial applications. It also features a sub-conference on additive manufacturing—including SLM-Metal, SLM-Polymers, and Laser Metal Deposition—all organized by the German Scientific Laser Society (WLT).
EOS Optical Technologies
This forum covers all aspects of optical technologies, including manufacturing and testing of optical systems and optofluidics. For the first time, there will be a reviewed industrial poster session displayed during the whole conference with companies presenting their key technology competences.
Imaging and Applied Optics
OSA’s Imaging and Applied Optics Congress combines academic, industrial, and defense research perspectives covering advances in imaging and applied optics technologies, as well as their application in addressing important industrial, military, and medical challenges.
Digital Optical Technologies
Dedicated to the emerging digital trends and perspectives in optics, Digital Optical Technologies focuses on recent technology advances in 3D sensors, immersive multimedia, novel displays, light sources and imaging systems, as well as optics designed by digital means, fabricated by digital means, and with functionalities enhanced or altered by digital techniques (computational optics or dynamic optics).
Optical Metrology
The conference, organized by SPIE Europe, focuses on the latest research in optical metrology, videometrics, and machine vision, with applications for solving measurement and inspection problems in industrial design and production engineering, vehicle navigation, multimedia technology, biotechnology, architecture, archaeology, and arts. Special emphasis is directed to model-based, remote and active approaches, sensor fusion, robot guidance, image sequence processing, and scene modeling.
The tradeshow floor will also host a series of application-oriented panels that focus on biophotonics and medical applications, optical metrology and imaging, lasers and optics, and materials processing applications. A few highlights include a look at augmented reality and virtual reality in medicine and present optical and clinical imaging methods that show potential for innovative and personalized diagnosis, treatment planning, therapeutic intervention and follow-up, as well as improving education and training. The session will discuss current state-of-the-art challenges and future R&D prospects.
Another panel discusses how laser-based fluorescence measurements, in combination with sensitive and low-readout-noise image sensors, are accelerating development of new endoscopy and microscopy techniques and methods.
In addition, two June 26 panels on optical quantum technologies cover sensing and computing, and imaging and communication. The first session provides information on the strong fundamental research strategies in Germany and discusses expected breakthroughs in the next few years. The second panel discusses the challenges associated with entangled photon pair sources for applications such as imaging and detection in new spectral ranges and secure communications.
International startup program
Many companies exhibiting at LASER World of PHOTONICS were founded within the past 30 years, yet today there seems to be a continuous crop of new startups hitting the scene. This year, the most recent generation of new companies that have yet to be around for more than five years will be highlighted at Startup World and have a chance to receive the EUR 5,000 Start-Up Award.
John Lewis | Editor in Chief (2018-2021)
John Lewis served as Editor in Chief of Laser Focus World from August 2018 through October 2021, after having served as the Editor in Chief of Vision Systems Design from 2016 to 2018. He has technical, industry, and journalistic qualifications, with more than 13 years of progressive content development experience working at Cognex Corporation. Prior to Cognex where his articles on machine vision were published in dozens of trade journals, he was a technical editor for Design News, covering automation, machine vision, and other engineering topics, for over six years.