"The New Era of Ultrafast Manufacturing" will be the focus of the keynote presentation given by Wayne Knox at the annual Laser Focus World Marketplace Seminar, to be held Jan. 26, 2004, in San Jose, CA, during Photonics West. Knox, a pioneer in the development of ultrafast lasers and currently professor of optics at the University of Rochester (Rochester, NY), will share his views on the unique properties of ultrafast lasers with particular emphasis on the growing role of this technology in micromachining and nanomachining of silicon, metals, hazardous materials, and biological tissues.
"Whether you are talking about cutting, drilling, trimming, scribing, or writing, there are many examples of things made with ultrashort pulses that cannot be made any other way," Knox said.
Knox, who began his career 25 years ago and spent 17 years at Bell Labs in a research program devoted to ultrafast lasers, believes that this technology will play an increasingly important role in many fields in which, despite the cost or complexity, it can do something better or faster than other approaches. Examples include laser eye surgery and mask repair in semiconductor manufacturing.
"So what will be the value of ultrafast technology?" he said. "The key is to balance the value of the technology with the cost. You could have a $100,000 ultrafast laser and if it is solving a problem, the cost is okay. The question is, how much value is it creating?"
Other presentations during the day-long event, which will be held at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, include the annual review and forecast of global laser markets (Stephen Anderson, Laser Focus World), semiconductor laser market review and forecast (Robert Steele, Strategies Unlimited), industrial laser markets and applications (David Belforte, Industrial Laser Solutions), industrial markets and applications for fiber lasers (Stuart Woods, Southampton Photonics), bio-instrumentation market trends (Michael Tice, Strategic Directions International), and the high-power laser-diode market (Merrill Apter, Coherent).
Attendees will also receive a CD containing market data compiled from the annual Laser Focus World market survey; this information will not be made available in the magazine or through any other resource.
For more information or to register for the seminar, contact Registration Coordinator, Lasers and Optoelectronics Marketplace Seminar 2004, at 603-891-9267, or go to www.marketplaceseminar.com.