Nanophotonics Discussion Dominates Frontiers in Optics Conference

TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 18 -- The field of nanophotonics -- technology that uses light and matter interactions at the nanoscale to develop advances in areas such as high-speed telecommunications, computing and sensing -- will dominate discussion at the Optical Society of America's Frontiers in Optics (FiO) 2005, taking place this week in Tucson. The OSA annual meeting and Laser Science XXI, the annual meeting of the Division of Laser Science of the American Physical Society, will also be held this week.

FiO will feature five sessions on nanophotonics as it relates to some of the many technical divisions within the field of optics. The conference also offers four technical symposia and special sessions on 40 topics in optics and laser research and developments, as well as 139 speakers, 500 paper presentations, professional development sessions, five plenary talks and six short courses on topics including nanophotonics, the measurement of ultrashort laser pulses and medical imaging. FiO exhibitors include corporations and academic institutions debuting their latest technology discoveries and services.

A special symposia on organic photonics, electronics and optoelectronics will be held during the event, bringing together scientists and engineers from the "Organic Optoelectronics" and "Organic Thin Films for Photonic Applications" meetings to discuss the scientific challenges, progress made and future promises in the three fields.

Noteworthy speakers include Ferenc Krausz of the Max-Planck-Institut fur Quantenoptik, who will speak on "Controlling and Measuring Processes on an Attosecond Time Scale", which emphasizes the breakthroughs in laser science that allow researchers to watch electron processes. The University of Arizona's Martin Tomasko, principal investigator for the camera that recently sent pictures from Saturn’s moon, Titan, will speak on "The Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer Experiment on the Huygens Probe of Titan: A New View of a New World." Theodor W. Hansch of the Max-Planck Institute of Quantum Optics will give the Ives Medal address on "A Passion for Precision" and Marlan O. Scully of Texas A&M University will present the APS Shawlow Prize Lecture, "Quantum Theory of Laser, Bose Condensates and Black Hole Radiation."

A final symposia will be a tribute to 1981 Nobel Prize for Physics Laureate Nicolaas Bloembergen, who won for his contributions to the development of laser spectroscopy and whose work led to an extension of the laws of reflection and refraction.

For more information about FiO 2005, visit: www.frontiersinoptics.org