Remembering Charlie

MICHAEL D. WHEELER, MANAGING EDITOR, michael.wheeler@photonics.com

We were saddened to learn of the passing of retired managing editor Charlie Troy in May at age 81, after a brief illness. Charlie began his career here in 1983, working first as senior editor and ultimately managing editor, a position he held until his retirement in 1999. (He would return in an advisory capacity and as a part-time editor in later years.)

Along with executive editor Roger Linscott, Charlie played a pivotal role in fulfilling the vision of our founder, Teddi Laurin, of bringing a family of first-rate, highly informative publications to the industry — worthy of contributions from Nobel Prize-winning scientists and industry luminaries alike. Ever the newspaperman at heart, Charlie had a knack for the hard-boiled lede and a precision with language that earned the respect of his peers.

When he wasn’t behind the desk or traveling to trade shows in Germany or California, he was a true outdoorsman. A gifted sailor, Charlie spent many an afternoon sailing the waters of the Long Island Sound and Lake Champlain. He also loved fly fishing and skeet shooting at the nearby sportsman’s club. We’ll miss you, Charlie.

As we bid farewell to a friend, we say hello to another. Many of you know of Dr. Federico Capasso of Harvard University for his groundbreaking work developing the quantum cascade laser. Dr. Capasso has graciously accepted our offer to join our editorial advisory board, and we look forward to his help in what we choose to include in the pages of Photonics Spectra. Check out Light Matters for the latest on Dr. Capasso's work on metalenses. (watch video).

Highlights from this month’s issue:

• The semiconductor industry has been planning for EUV lithography for years. Now it’s happening. Authors from ASML Holding examine the science behind the use of 13.5-nm light in our cover story, “Extreme UV Keeps Pace with Moore’s Law.” (read article).

• Be sure to make time for Contributing Editor Hank Hogan’s “Improving Automation with 3D Vision,” (read article).

• The development of durable, comfortable organic LED fibers shows promise for clothing-like displays. See “OLED-on-Fabric Could Be the Next Wearable Wonder,” authored by researchers at KAIST (read article).

Additional feature articles cover developments in fabrication techniques for ultrathin solar cells, a new silicon photonics interposer technology that could pave the way for 400-Gb/s optical interconnects, and a chemical vapor deposition technique, originated in the semiconductor industry, that can be used to coat curved optics.

Enjoy the issue!