Conferences are hopping despite slowdown

Even in the face of pervasive uncertainty regarding the economic outlook for 2001, the optoelectronics industry has been the driving force behind two blockbuster conferences so far this year. In January, SPIE's Photonics West (San Jose, CA) attracted more than 15,000 visitors—up 25% from the prior year, while in March the OSA's Optical Fiber Communications meeting drew more than 38,000 visitors to Anaheim, CA—a whopping 127% jump from the 2000 number (see p. 20). Not only were these attendance figures all-time highs, but the events also exuded an energy level that previously has not been typical of this industry. So both these meetings are hard acts to follow.

Nonetheless, many of us will be in Baltimore, MD, this month for the CLEO/QELS meeting, which, though likely to be much smaller in terms of attendance, is still one of the premier technical conferences for optoelectronics. In fact, according to the OSA, the combined conference has a total of 1169 papers scheduled for presentation during the five-day event, which is up from about 1150 last year; OFC 2001 by comparison hosted 482 papers. Of course, the technical program at CLEO/QELS is much broader than that of OFC, encompassing as it does all aspects of optoelectronics from, for example, new nonlinear material research to high-energy lasers, as well as various photonics applications, and the inevitable sessions on optical communications.

The technical program at CLEO/QELS also epitomizes the content of Laser Focus World as we strive each month to bring our readers in-depth and timely coverage of a broad range of current technical developments and related applications. And it's interesting to note that—the success of the other conferences notwithstanding—the May (CLEO) issue is still the largest each year. To our regular readers this will be evident from a brief glance at the Table of Contents.

With topics ranging from a space-bound imaging system (see p. 181) to a more down-to-earth discussion about planar waveguide manufacturing (see p. 219), 21 feature articles cover all aspects of optoelectronics—other highlights include a new all-optical switching technology (see p. 109), recent developments in spectroscopy (see pages 159 and 225), and a special report that reviews the use of photonics technologies in mapping the human genome (see p. 136). And if you happen to think, as many economists apparently do, that despite all the dire economic news a US recession this year is unlikely, then now might be a good time to start your own optoelectronics company—for advice from an entrepreneur, see p. 125.