Advances in petawatt photonics, laser systems, optical sensing, holography, metamaterials, nonlinear and quantum optics, and related topics will be presented by leading experts at SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics in Prague next month. The weeklong conference will also feature sessions for industry and presentation of three prestigious awards from the International Commission for Optics (ICO).

More than 600 technical papers on the latest developments in optics and optoelectronic devices, technologies, and their integration will be presented at SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics 2013 next month. The international symposium will be held at the Clarion Congress Hotel in the historic city of Prague, Czech Republic, April 15-18, 2013.

Conferences will cover recent advances in petawatt photonics, high-power and high-repetition rate systems, diode-pumped laser systems, and FELs, along with the latest research in optical sensing, holography, x-ray optics, metamaterials, nonlinear and quantum optics.

Attendees will be able to learn first-hand about new developments in ground-breaking intense laser-matter interaction research, inspired by what will be the future site of one of the world’s most advanced laser facilities, ELI Beamlines. The facility, expected to be open to users by January 2016, will serve researchers in laser science as well as other fields including material sciences, engineering, medicine, biology, chemistry, and others with its multifunctional and user-friendly design.

A two-day exhibition running April 16-17 will connect researchers with more than twenty suppliers and project partners from around the world who provide optical instruments and systems to address an ever-increasing number of industrial and research applications, in areas such as imaging and vision, defence, telecommunications, space, transportation, industrial process control, and laser fusion.

A special technical session on the prospects for inertial fusion energy (IFE) will feature invited speakers from the HiPER and LIFE laser energy projects.

ICO, the International Commission for Optics, will present three of its annual awards during the event, with talks by award winners:

Industry-focused sessions include:

• A one-day Laser Energy Workshop emphasising engagement with industry as an important element of the Laser Energy roadmap, both in a facility delivery context and also as assurance that arising technological advances are exploited for shorter-term economic impact, along with discussion of the key enabling technologies and the underlying physics of laser-driven fusion and progress to “first ignition” at NIF.
• A one-day National Science Foundation (NSF) Workshop on “US-Czech frontiers in photonics,” covering non-linear optics, EUV-soft x-rays, microstructured and specialty fibers, optical sensors, optical manipulators, metamaterials, and THz and Mid IR photonics.
• An afternoon workshop for ELI prospective users, bringing together researchers who are developing and building the ELI Beamlines facility with members of the community of prospective users of proposed beamlines and end-stations. Several roundtable discussions will be held to identify and specify the most promising user experiments.
• Symposium General Chairs are Jiří Homola of the Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (IPE/ASCR), Chris Edwards of the UK Central Laser Facility, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Mike Dunne of Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and Ivo Rendina of the Instituto per la Microelettronica e Microsistemi. Miroslav Miler (IPE/ASCR) is Honorary Chair.

Accepted conference proceedings papers will be published in the SPIE Digital Library as soon as approved after the meeting, and in print volumes and digital collections.

SPIE is an international society for optics and photonics, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies.