The Third Symposium on Advanced Photo Processing and Measurement Technologies, sponsored by the R&D Institute for Photonics Engineering (RIPE), was held November 8 in Tokyo. The conference showcased research conducted under the auspices of the Advanced Photon Processing and Measurement Technology project, which began in 1997 within the framework of the Industrial Science and Technology Frontier Program of Japan's Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, Ministry of International Trade and Industries (MITI). The project research is the result of efforts by 13 private Japanese companies and one university (all are RIPE members), four national research institutes supported by MITI, the Laser Society of Japan, the Japan Society of Laser Technology, and the Japan Society of Applied Physics.
For 1999, Shun-ichi Kato, director of Toshiba's Corporate Manufacturing Engineering Center (Yokohama, Japan) and the chairman of the RIPE technical committee, provided a progress report on the three major technical thrust areas of the project: photon-generation technology, photon-applied processing technology, and photon-applied measurement technology. More details on measurement technology currently under development and other presentations discussed at the conference are available on the Web: www.photon.mstc.or.jp.—Paula M. Noaker