Frontiers in Optics to Highlight Optics Advances

Frontiers in Optics (FiO) 2011, the Optical Society of America’s (OSA) 95th annual meeting, will highlight the latest advances in photonics, optical science and engineering. Held in conjunction with Laser Science XXVII, the annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Laser Science, FiO will run from Oct. 16 to 20, and will be held at the Fairmont San Jose and Sainte Claire hotels in San Jose.

During FiO, hundreds of papers from researchers around the world will be presented, covering a wide range of topics, including:

• Microscopy and Spectroscopy on a Cell Phone — Researchers from the University of California, Davis will discuss how they transformed an ordinary iPhone into a high-quality medical imaging device that can be used to help doctors and nurses diagnose blood diseases in developing nations, where many hospitals and rural clinics have limited or no access to laboratory equipment. (See also: How to Perform Microscopy, Spectroscopy with an iPhone)

• Tagging Brain Tumors with Gold — Researchers from Duke University have proposed a way to harness the unique optical properties of gold nanoparticles to clearly distinguish a brain tumor from the healthy, and vital, tissue that surrounds it.

• Temporal Cloaks Hide an Event in Time — Scientists at Cornell University have demonstrated for the first time that it’s possible to cloak a singular event in time, creating what they describe as a “history editor.” Instead of spatial optical cloaks that can hide objects, this new type of cloak can hide an event that happened in time.

• Lasers Inspired by Nature — Researchers at Yale University are studying how two types of nanoscale structures on the feathers of brightly colored birds produce brilliant and distinctive colors. The researchers are hoping that, by borrowing these nanoscale tricks from nature, they will be able to produce new types of lasers — ones that can assemble themselves by natural processes. (See also: Pigment-Free Feathers Inspire Mirrorless Laser)

Plenary Session

This year’s FiO program will also highlight a two-part plenary session on Monday, Oct. 17, at 8 a.m. in the Regency Ballroom at the Fairmont Hotel. In a talk titled “Seeing is Believing: Capturing Electrons is Real Time,” Ferenc Krausz, professor at Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Germany, will review recent advances in laser science that have opened the door to watching and controlling these previously inaccessible microscopic dynamics of atomic-scale electrons.

Sir John Pendry, professor at Imperial College London, will report on recent progress toward a perfect lens, and he will describe some experiments that bring light to an intense focus very much smaller than the free-space wavelength in a talk titled “Inside the Wavelength: Seeing Really Small Objects with Light.”

Hot Trends in Optics

On Sunday, Oct. 16, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Regency Ballroom in the Fairmont Hotel, there will be a session highlighting recent developments, including the scientific and technical advances, being made across the entire field of optics. This session is designed to be informative and accessible even to the nontechnical attendee.

Special Symposia

A special symposium is in the line-up for this year’s FiO show on Sunday, Oct. 16, to Thursday, Oct. 20, at the Fairmont Hotel. The sessions will provide an in-depth look at topics in the field of optics and photonics, including:

• 50 Years of Measuring the Eye’s Aberrations

• Ultrashort Pulses: 20th Anniversary of Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating Symposium

• Special Symposium on Integrated Optofluidics for the Life Sciences

• Laser Science Symposium on Undergraduate Research

• Novel X-ray and EUV Light Sources and Sciences

Networking Workshop

The OSA Network of Entrepreneurs (ONE) Workshop will be held in the Courtyard Room at the St. Claire Hotel on Tuesday, Oct. 18, from 10 a.m. to noon. The ONE Workshop provides entrepreneurs from around the globe with a forum to discuss the challenges and opportunities of startup enterprises and to hear firsthand from successful optics entrepreneurs. This inaugural meeting will feature Greg Quarles, president and COO of B.E. Meyers; Michelle Holoubeck, director in the Electronics Group at intellectual property specialty law firm Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox; and Tom Baer, executive director of the Stanford Photonics Research Center at Stanford University, co-founder of Arcturus Bioscience Inc. and 2009 OSA president.

Minorities and Women in OSA Tea

This year's event offers a panel discussion featuring OSA’s CEO, Elizabeth Rogan, and esteemed OSA board of directors members Jannick Rolland of the University of Rochester, Donna Strickland of the University of Waterloo, and Laura Weller-Brophy of FluoroLogic Inc. The discussion will focus on current issues and trends for women and minorities in science and will be held in the Sainte Claire Room at the Sainte Claire Hotel on Tuesday, Oct. 18, from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Intellectual Property Workshop

On Monday, Oct. 17, at 4 p.m. in Cupertino Room at the Fairmont Hotel, OSA is offering a workshop titled “Patent Reform — How to Manage the Switch to a First-to-File System.” Michelle Holoubek, Washington, DC-based IP attorney, will cover the changes to the US patent system that are now in effect with the new America Invents Act. Topics addressed will include differences between the old “first to invent” patent system and the new “first to file” patent system as well as corporate strategies and tips to help tech businesses make the most of these changes. RSVP required. Contact astark@osa.org. (See also: Major Patent Overhaul Becomes Law)

For more information, visit: www.osa.org