When the publication then known as Laser Focus started in 1965, the founding editor wrote that, after analyzing the potential scientific, technical, and business readers, it was clear that "you—the reader—require a publication unlike any now in existence." The mission was to be timely but not newsy, to be "well-based technically" yet comprehensible by non-specialists, and to treat a wide variety of subjects without becoming an "unfocused polyglot of information." Successive generations of editors have, with pride, tried to keep to this goal.
From the vantage point of 50 years and as the chief editor of what is now Laser Focus World, I offer thanks for the clear mission statement, but also wonder who, back in the days of a twice-monthly newsletter and then a monthly magazine, could have imagined how much the means of providing this information would change. If you are a dedicated reader of our print magazine, you may have only a slight sense of how so much of what we create now lives a digital life, including the magazine itself (on a tablet screen it looks, even to me, remarkably like a magazine—a relief after several digital versions that didn't).
Our website has, I estimate, three to four times more technology and market articles per month than appear in print. Our webcasts and videos provide education via popular media that, needless to say, have a short history online. And electronic newsletters and social media provide a very immediate means of reaching and interacting with our audience (who are now more than simply "readers").
Although these past 50 years of media change were unimaginable, we have continued our mission to cover a wide variety of subjects—in this issue ranging from optogenetics (see article) and aspheres (see article) to the impact of ITAR on high-energy laser development (see article) and the benefits of diversity for the photonics community (see article). These articles are still timely and well-based technically, and we would not have it any other way.
Conard Holton | Editor at Large
Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.