CLEO/QELS and PhAST 2006, held last month in Long Beach, Calif., attracted a total of 5200, said its organizer, the Optical Society of America. "Once again, CLEO/QELS and PhAST reiterated their roles as the leading events for the fields of lasers, electro-optics and photonics," OSA said in a statement. "With more than 1500 talks on the latest breakthroughs in research and applications, these conferences are the source of the most timely and innovative new developments for the industry." OSA said attendance was consistent with previous shows, and that technical attendance was strong, with more than 2500, and exhibit walk-in traffic remained steady with 2005. The CLEO exhibition showcased 358 participating companies this year, with almost a 100 percent increase in corporate sponsor participation. "The show really is an international must-attend event, with approximately 25 percent of companies coming from outside the US," OSA said. CLEO also launched the Terahertz Technologies and Applications subcommittee, a new topic area developed in response to a consistent increase in papers in this area over the last few meetings, OSA said. Corporate sponsors were: Photonics.com, Andor Technology, Cleveland Crystals, Coherent, Del Mar Photonics, Edmund Optics, High Q Laser, Horiba Jobin Yvon, Incubic Venture Fund, New Focus, Newport, OPN, Symphotic TII, Thorlabs, Toptica Photonics. CLEO/QELS and PhAST 2007 will be held May 6-11 in Baltimore. For more information, visit: www.cleoconference.org