Light-Based Technologies — A Way of Life

RODD M. PEDROTTI, BIOPHOTONICS EDITOR, rodd.pedrotti@photonics.com

From the lab to the clinic, light-based technologies aren’t trends. They’re well-planted ways of life for those who develop them and a proven means of bettering the lives of those who access them. Like any technology, they improve over time, becoming increasingly refined with each iteration and less costly as the components they comprise become cheaper to produce. What was just a concept a decade ago may today sit in a primary care provider’s examination room or be found in multiple care units at local hospitals.

A 2015 Transparency Market Research study that analyzed various metrics throughout the global photonics market found that photonic technologies used in the fields of medicine and health care is the fastest-growing segment. The study cited an ever-increasing need for accurate and timely diagnoses as a primary factor for the increasing demand for photonic instruments.

This issue’s cover story, “Reduced to the Essentials — Portable Imaging Gets High Tech,” by contributing editor Marie Freebody, adds credibility to this report. It discusses how these technologies are not only improving people’s lives, but how photonics-based devices have started to come to patients — quite literally. With an increasing number of photonic technologies advancing to the point of care, such developments are being used to help people who otherwise might not receive health care. They’re also enabling medical centers to share equipment that, in some cases, was out of budgetary reach. The article begins on page 28.

Also in this issue:

• “OPSLs — Unique Benefits Driving Growth in the Life Sciences” by Dr. Matthias Schulze, Coherent Inc., beginning on page 32;

• “In Vivo Neural Imaging — SLMs for Conducting 3D Holography Inside Living Brains,” by Dr. Christopher Hoy, Boulder Nonlinear Systems, beginning on page 35; and

• “MPEF Microscopy Shines Best on Living Samples,” by Editor Rodd M. Pedrotti, beginning on page 40.

Enjoy the issue.