Frontiers in Optics 2009
Oct. 11-15, 2009
Frontiers in Optics, the Optical Society of America’s 93rd annual meeting, and Laser Science, the annual meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Laser Science, covers hot topics, including new optics for solar power, 3-D displays, new microfabrication and microscopy techniques, using algae to convert sunlight to biofuel, and the highest power tabletop laser ever built. The technical program features six special symposia, two plenary talks, more than 200 invited speakers, and an exhibition of top companies.
I should know better. Watching movies or TV shows I revered as a child can only end badly. As with so many things in life, the reality can never equal the paramnesia built of fading memories and unattainable ideals.
New types of research that explore new avenues in medical imaging, solar power, communications and vision were presented during "What's Hot in Optics Today?" during Frontiers in Optics 2009 (FiO) Sunday.
Two or three of the contestants tricked out their tiny solar-powered cars, hoping to gain an advantage in speed and thus edge out the competition. They introduced, for example, magnifying sheets and complicated gear assemblages.
‘Whoa, whoa, whoa,’ I thought. ‘Whoa.’ I had just stumbled across a page on the Frontiers in Optics website collecting blog postings about the (then) upcoming meeting. ‘We can’t have people just running around writing stuff for the internet. About science, no less.’
“I have contributed all my knowledge to laser research, yet, I still get no RESPECT! But that’s going to change, after I get my hands on that girl and harness her power…” The latter pronouncement sent a chill through me.
In the first session on Monday at Frontier in Optics 2009, Andrea M. Ghez explained to attendees the process by which she has concluded that a dormant supermassive black hole lies not only at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, but every galaxy.
2009 has been a special year of advancements for lasers, and by October 2010 the power of the sun could be ever-so-briefly generated in the laboratory. Those are just some of the points made during the awards ceremony on Monday at FiO 2009.
Harvesting optical energy currently lost through heat dissipation in optoelectronic devices could allow them to actually generate more power than they use and help make silicon chips and compound semiconductors more "green."
Exascale computers, which would be 1000 times more powerful than today's fastest supercomputers, will need to have optics playing a bigger role, said Jeffrey Kash of IBM Research.
Harvesting optical energy currently lost through heat dissipation in optoelectronic devices could allow them to actually generate more power than they use and help make silicon chips and compound semiconductors more "green."