CLEO/QELS to Emphasize Emerging Apps

The Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) and The Quantum Electronics and Laser Science (QELS) Conference 2010, which takes place May 16-21 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, Calif, will offer more than 1200 technical presentations, 36 short courses, seven symposia, more than 100 invited speakers, a job fair and career workshop, and Expo, an exhibit featuring more than 300 companies.

San Jose McEnery Convention Center.

Sponsored by the American Physical Society’s Laser Science Div., the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Photonics Society, and the Optical Society of America, the five-day event features plenary sessions, invited speakers, contributed papers and short courses on the industry’s innovative developments in laser science, basic research in electro-optics and commercial applications in photonics.

CLEO/QELS 2010 expands to include emerging applications of lasers and electro-optical technology. This year, it is organized into four main segments—CLEO/QELS, CLEO: Applications, CLEO Market Focus and CLEO: Expo.

With 16 CLEO and eight QEL topic categories, the first of the four main segments is aimed for attendees to learn more about the advancements in some of the major topics, led by some of the industry’s finest. Topics of discussion will include optical metrology, biophotonics and optofluidics, lightwave communications and optical networks, LEDs, photovoltaics and energy-efficient photonics, and active optical sensing for the CLEO conference. QELS topic categories include metamaterials and complex media, nano-optics and plasmonics, and optical interactions with condensed matter and ultrafast phenomena.

Formerly PhAST, the revamped CLEO applications program focuses on the demonstration of components, systems and emerging applications of lasers and electro-optical technology. The new program will run May 17-21. Also included in the applications segment of the technical program will be a Power Lunch titled, “Green Shoots in Photonics,” to be held May 18th.

The third segment, Market Focus, will be held May 18-20. Covering business and commercialized applications and held on the exhibit floor, the programming is free to all attendees. Topics include Photonics for Energy, Solar and Lasers; Photonics for Energy, CPV systems; industrial lasers, photonics for defense and security; and biophotonics.

CLEO: Expo will offer attendees access to more than 300 exhibitors from around the world who will showcase their latest products to every sector of the industry during the three-day event. CLEO-goers will have the opportunity to get up-close and hands-on with the newest products in the industry, as well as speak with experts involved in their development.

CLEO/QELS 2010 will also host four plenary sessions. Noted plenary speakers will include Gérard Mourou of École Polytechnique, France, who contributed to the invention of the laser amplification technique universally used today known as Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA); Douglas Simons of Gemini Observatory, who will discuss a new portal on the universe-laser adaptive optics; Steven Block of Stanford University, who will talk about single molecule biophysics with optical tweezers; and David Awschalom of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who will discuss manipulating single spins and coherence in semiconductors.

Special events will include a LaserFest Symposium sponsored by Coherent Inc. to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the laser, a LaserRock! concert sponsored by Newport Corp. and a Power Lunch sponsored by the Precision Photonics Corp.

For more information, visit: www.cleoconference.org