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IMAGING & DISPLAYS Complex monolithic optics bring ruggedized solutions to digital cinema

 

An integrated monolithic assembly
can replace the complex optical
train that magni es and projects
a microdisplay’s image, resulting
in improved performance and a
projection-display experience that
more closely duplicates traditional
display technologies such as CRT and
lm. ALAN C. GRAHAM AND NING CHAN OF
AGILENT PRECISION OP TICS
WWW.LASERFOCUSWORLD.COM/
AR TICLES/327817

 

SCIENCE AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION Presidential award honors teachers of math and science

The Presidential Award for Excellence
in Mathematics and Science Teaching
is the highest recognition that a
mathematics or science teacher can
receive for outstanding teaching in the
United States. The National Science
Foundation administers the award
program on behalf of The White House
Of ce of Science and Technology
Policy. GRACE KLONOSKI OF OSA
WWW.LASERFOCUSWORLD.COM/
AR TICLES/327818

www.laserfocusworld.com

editor’s desk
Driving innovation

Speaking to attendees at the recent Photonics Europe meeting in Strasbourg, France, Ronand Burgess of the European Commission’s Photonics Unit said that photonics in Europe grew 12% to reach € 49 billion ($75 billion) in 2006. “At 12%, that makes it a high-growth industry,” he said. Burgess also noted that photonics production in Europe is now equivalent in Euros to that of microelectronics production—but with a higher growth rate. Photonics employs 246,000 people and involves more than 5000 companies, according to Burgess, who lamented the fact that, despite the overall economic significance of photonics within Europe, its importance goes unrecognized by the general public—unlike that of microelectronics.

Perhaps that will change. The European Commission (EC) set up a dedicated Photonics Unit last year and the EC photonics budget has increased 40%. The

EC Photonics Unit leader, Thierry Van der Pyl, and Viviane Reding, the relatively high-profile European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, were recognized in March by the OSA ( www.osa.org) for their efforts to bring photonics to the forefront of technology discussions within the EU. And Reding recently stated that photonics is driving innovation in Europe. Find out more about how the EC is pushing photonics R&D in Europe under the auspices of its Photonics²¹ initiative in this month’s European Report on page 66.

Innovation was also prominent at the combined CLEO/QELS/PhAST conferences last month in San Jose, CA, where more than 1900 technical papers in 247 technical sessions covered practically all aspects of current photonics and optoelectronics research and development. Ursula Keller, head of research for the Institute for Quantum Electronics at ETH Zurich was presented with the Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize for her contributions to the development of ultrafast lasers and semiconductor mode locking. And the PhAST/Laser Focus World Innovation Award was won by Coherent (Santa Clara, CA) for its optically pumped semiconductor laser (see page 65). Watch for more reports about other innovations from these conferences at www.laser- focusworld.com and in next month’s issue.

Stephen G. Anderson

Associate Publisher/Editor in Chief stevega@pennwell.com

 

Editorial Advisory Board Dan Botez, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Connie Chang-Hasnain, UC Berkeley Center for Opto-electronic Nanostructured Semiconductor Technologies; Pat Edsell, Avanex; Jason Eichenholz, Ocean Optics; Thomas Giallorenzi, Naval Research Laboratory; Ron Gibbs, Ron Gibbs Associates; Ralph R. Jacobs, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Anthony M. Johnson, Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research, University of Maryland Baltimore County; Kenneth Kaufmann, Hamamatsu Corp.; Larry Marshall, Southern Cross Venture Partners; Jan Melles, Photonics Investments; Masahiro Joe Nagasawa, TEM Co. Ltd.; David Richardson, University of Southampton; Ralph A. Rotolante, Vicon Infrared; Toby Strite, JDS Uniphase.

Laser Focus World www.laserfocusworld.com June 2008