Photonics for a Better World

The approach of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in early December has global leaders from every sector thinking about technology opportunities to help meet greenhouse-gas-emissions reduction goals in an effort to mitigate climate change . Photonics at work: A schematic illustration of electromagnetic characterization and detection of pollutants on a sea surface, in an SPIE Newsroom article by researchers at Lab-STICC, CNRS, ENSTA Bretagne . Photonics technologies play an important part in enabling and driving applications that support sustainable development and the green economy. Researchers, engineers, and developers in the optics and photonic community are continually finding new ways to enhance our lives with these technologies. But there is another sort of opportunity for the photonics community to take up: speaking out about the urgency to take action, particularly in the face of climate-change skepticism or denial. UK Astronomer Royal S...

It’s time for the photonics community to “stand up and be counted,” said optics.org Editor-in-Chief Mike Hatcher in today’s newsletter. We agree! Here’s how Mike put it: “The behind-the-scenes work being done by representatives of the U.S. National Photonics Initiative (NPI) appears to be paying off. This week, an official request for information (RFI) from the Department of Defense (DoD) included photonics as one of six technology areas under consideration for a new public-private national manufacturing institute. “That RFI signals the invitation for the wider community - both industrial and academic - to get more directly involved in the process, by feeding back the kind of information that the DoD is looking for. "Now is the time for photonics proponents to communicate as clearly as possible the huge benefits that this technology will bring to the DoD and beyond with proper co-ordination, and the first chance to get involved is a webinar scheduled for tomorrow, ...

One of the best chances of the year for the US photonics industry to capture the ear of Congress is scheduled to begin Friday: the August recess. Do you wish that your Congressional representative or senator understood why your photonics business or research is important to the economy? Do you wish that your representative knew how photonics helps -- to give just a few examples -- ensure community safety, cure diseases such as cancer, enable mobile phone communications and the internet, power 3D printing of airplane parts -- and create new industry and jobs? To help tell the photonics story, researchers including Naomi Halas of Rice University (above) tell in an SPIE.tv video how they use optics and photonics  to kill cancer, treat brain disorders, make  computers run faster, convert mobile phones  into sophisticated wireless diagnostic  devices, identify concealed explosives, and  more. ( Video:1:38 ) And do you wish that Congres...

In order for research to become useful, researchers and developers from academia, industry and government have to share their needs and ideas. Everyone in the field knows that. Most people would agree that much of the value and action-steps come from hallway conversations among presenters and attendees. And nearly everyone in the field has a great deal of apprehension about the serious threat to global technology leadership and economic viability wrought by current U.S. restrictions on travel by government employees. In the photonics sector, this includes the scientists and engineers at NASA, NIST, NIH, DOD, DOE, NSF, NOAA, and several other agencies. Rep. Rush Holt is one of a very few professional scientists serving in the U.S. Congress. (Photo: Kate Bohler, Asia Society/Flickr) Scientist and U.S. Congressman Rush Holt of New Jersey, formerly the assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab (and the man who beat “Watson,” IBM’s computer system in a simu...

That's it! Science teachers in Nepal (above) learned more about teaching optics and photonics during a recent workshop presented through the Active Learning in Optics and Photonics (ALOP) program. The program is one of the ways volunteers sponsored by UNESCO, SPIE, and other organizations help share an understanding of the field and its importance. Lasers cut the fabric for our clothing, and etch communication pathways on the chips in our computers and mobile devices. We make phone calls and send data over the internet via wireless broadband and fiber optic networks. LEDs light our streets and rooms, remote sensing systems assess ocean health and monitor water tables, disasters, and weather systems, and light diagnoses and treats diseases. The fruits of photonics are everywhere. The products of optics are omnipresent. And yet, if you have ever been introduced as an optics and photonics researcher or developer, you know that blank looks are also common. The terms simply are n...

Quick quiz: List five examples of how photonics technology has changed how you live -- how you work, travel, relax, look after your health --- whatever. Easy, right? Now, name five photonics-based changes you expect to see in the near future. Also easy. Photonics solutions are everywhere, and the time is ripe for more photonics innovation. Governments, industry, and other funders around the world are developing new policy initiatives and offering new sources of funding in support of photonics R&D. Some of those initiatives need your participation to be successful. Among them: ●   In the UK, photonics recently was named one of the potential candidate areas for investment in the next phase of the Strategy and Implementation Plan for Technology and Innovation Centres (TICs). If you live in the UK, you can help influence that choice: Comments about what photonics can do are being sought, and can be posted on the photonics TIC discussion space or emailed to centres@tsb.g...

Next week several hundred scientists will leave the comfort and familiarity of their labs and lecture halls to attempt a very difficult task: convince politicians of the priority of funding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, research and innovation. SET-CVD 2010 volunteers This event is happening in Washington, D.C., via the Science-Engineering-Technology Working Group’s 16 th annual Congressional Visits Day , but the challenge -- the opportunity, really -- is one faced by the science community around the world. SPIE members will be among the volunteers participating. EU Green Paper The European Commission has invited comments from stakeholders on a Green Paper which aims to launch a public debate on the future of EU research and innovation funding. Photonics industry and research professionals are among those from other disciplines offering their perspectives. While competing for governmental support may pit science against other needs and i...

As pervasive and vital as photonics technologies are in industry, healthcare, communications, entertainment, and elsewhere in modern life, the term “photonics” is not exactly a household word. More to the point, it is not a term that is immediately understood in many houses of government, where decisions are made about which research, innovation, and education programs to fund and how richly to fund them. Yet, programs benefit more when policy makers and budget writers understand the importance of the technologies and the scope of the industry. Information about the size of the photonics industry and the influence of photonics science, in the form of comprehensive national and regional reports, has been a powerful tool for helping to communicate with governments about the importance of photonics funding. In the past few years, reports have surveyed industry activity, market trends, and opportunities regionally in the European Union and in Asia, while additional reports focus on...