It’s a great time to be in the field of photonics -- those were the words of Mike Dunne speaking earlier this year to a standing-room-only audience gathered for his plenary talk at the SPIE Photonics Europe meeting in Brussels. Dunne -- who at that time was with the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council and the HiPER project and has since moved to the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Lab -- is in a good position to know. He and NIF Director Ed Moses and others are at the forefront of work pursuing fusion as a source of sustainable, clean, affordable energy. Not only is that exciting science, but it’s an extremely worthy goal that will benefit people around the world and the physical environment along with us. My objective for this blog is to celebrate photonics research and development, with the help of guest authors from th e SPIE community and your comments as well. Look on Photonics for a Better World as a vehicle to carry the conversation -...