assessment of bone health (a techno-
logically difficult task), by Xueding
Wang of the University of Michigan
Medical School and colleagues.
2. Paper 9308-18: Enabling technology
for photodynamic therapy in global health settings: Battery-powered
irradiation and smartphone-based
imaging for ALA-PDT by Joshua
Hempstead of the University of
Massachusetts (Boston) and col-
leagues. Photonics has much to offer
global health, and this is an exciting
new example.
3. Paper 9311-7: Quantitative wide-field
fluorescence imaging in neurosurgery
by Keith Paulsen of the Thayer School
of Engineering at Dartmouth College
and colleagues. Wow: fluorescence-
guided neurosurgery.
4. Paper 9334-22: Lattice light-sheet microscopy: Imaging molecules, cells, and
embryos at high spatiotemporal res-
olution by Wesley Legant, Howard
Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia
Farm Research Campus and colleagues.
This technique represents recent work
by Nobel Laureate Betzig (see Fig. 3).
LASE
The LASE plenary session, held
Wednesday, includes presentations
on the future of NASA’s optical communications program by Donald
Cornwall Jr., head of NASA’s Advanced
Communications Division; coherent com-
bination of ultrafast laser pulses by Jens
Limpert, head of the Laser Development
Group at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität
Jena (Germany); and laser 3D printing of
metallic components by Xiaoyan Zeng,
deputy director of the lasers and terahertz department at Wuhan National
Laboratory for Optoelectronics (China).
The talk given by Limpert is notable in
that he discusses the coherent combination of a large number of ultrafast fiber
amplifiers, with the goal of not only pet-awatt peak powers, but also megawatt
average powers.
The LASE technical sessions are di-
vided into five tracks: Laser Source
Engineering, Nonlinear Optics,
Semiconductor Lasers and LEDs, Laser
Micro-/Nanoengineering, and Laser
Applications. A few of the almost 30
technical-session topics include Fiber
Lasers XII: Technology, Systems, and
Applications (Conference 9344); Ultrafast
Phenomena and Nanophotonics XIX
(Conference 9361); High-Power Diode
Laser Technology and Applications XIII
(Conference 9348); Advanced Fabrication
Technologies for Micro/Nano Optics
and Photonics VIII (Conference 9374);
and Laser Refrigeration of Solids VIII
(Conference 9380). And, of course, each
of these 30 session topics has its own
group of subtopics, resulting in hun-
dreds of individual session tracks—sure-
ly one for every researcher’s and engi-
neer’s specialty.
In a session on the integration of nanostructures into photovoltaics (9352-13;
Sunday, February 8), Vivian Ferry of the
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis)
discusses the many ways that nanostruc-
tures offer the ability to control, concentrate, and spectrally tune light in
subwavelength dimensions; the talk concentrates both on light trapping and luminescent solar concentrators.
The use of fiber lasers as directed-energy devices will be the topic of an invited paper (9344-12; Monday, February 9)
by Don Seeley of the High Energy Laser
Joint Technology Office (HEL-JTO;
Kirtland AFB, NM) and John Slater
and LeAnn Brasure of Schafer Corp.
(Arlington, VA). The same session track
includes a talk on extreme-ultraviolet
generation by a high-intensity nanosecond all-fiber-coiled laser, given by Chun-Lin Chang and colleagues from National
Taiwan University and National Central
University (Taiwan).
A multinational team of researchers
will describe the achievement of 517–
538 nm tunable second-harmonic gen-
eration in a diode-pumped periodical-
ly poled potassium titanyl phosphate
(PPKTP) waveguide crystal (9347-11;
Tuesday, February 10) using a tunable
quantum-well (QW) external-cavity fi-
ber-coupled laser diode; maximum output power at 530 nm is 12. 88 m W. On
Wednesday, February 11 (paper 9353-
15), a German group will discuss the direct laser writing of 3D nanostructures
using a 405 nm laser diode; the shorter
wavelength allows them to create period-
ic structures with a finer lattice constant.
In an invited paper (9363-56; Thursday,
February 12), a group from Nichia (Anan,
Japan) will present recent results on high-output-power deep ultraviolet LEDs
emitting, for example, 35 mW at 258
nm for a single-chip device with a lifetime of more than 3000 h. Researchers at
Korea University (Seoul) will discuss the
use of chemically doped graphene films
as a transparent conductive layer in gallium nitride (GaN)-based LEDs (9363-
75; Thursday, February 12); such layers
can replace the fragile indium-tin-ox-
ide layer currently widely used. Experimental results will be presented.
OPTO
Held on Monday,
February 9, the OPTO
plenary session will open
with a talk on silicon in-
tegrated nanophoton-
ics given by Yurii Vlasov
of the IBM Thomas J.
Watson Research Center
(Yorktown Heights,
NY). Vlasov will highlight IBM’s nanophotonics technology for
FIGURE 3. BiOS paper 9334-22 will describe lattice light
sheet microscopy. A new development from the lab of 2014
Nobel Laureate Eric Betzig, it generates high-resolution
images quickly while minimizing damage to cells. (Courtesy
of the Betzig lab, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus)