By James Van Howe | Posted: 3 May 2011
I am likely showing my naivete as a “young” optics researcher, but after my Super Shuttle ride from the airport to my hotel last night, I felt compelled to say something about Bozeman, Montana. And no, I’m not being paid by Bozeman’s Chamber of Commerce (though if you are paying attention Bozeman, an all-expenses-paid visit to Bozeman could convince me to write more about your town whose combination of optics innovation and gorgeous backdrop is causing me to want to pack up my bags and head out West to Big Sky Country.)
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By Frank Kuo | Posted: 3 May 2011
With so many different kinds of lasers play essential roles in modern researches and daily life, it is tempting to find out what are the extremes among them. Thanks to this conference, this question intrigues me once again during a talk (QMF3) where a gigantic free electron laser (FEL) was mentioned and used to probe the atomic structures. Searching with the conference program brochure and within my memory, here is what I can find.
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By Frank Kuo | Posted: 2 May 2011
This year, the award goes to Applied Research and Photonics Inc. for its endeavor in THz device and applications. This is indeed another sign saying that THz will be a hot topic for the following few years thanks to many people’s efforts over the past two decades. Besides, we are very happy to see this field has grown into a vibrant society with its own conference – Optical THz Spectroscopy and Technology (OTST). I was there, learned many news things from researchers all over the world, and enjoyed the nice breeze from the Pacific sea in Santa Barbara.
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By James Van Howe | Posted: 27 April 2011
An April 20, CLEO press release recently caught the eye of the BBC News, and with good reason. A Japanes and Romanian collaboration will show data at CLEO from a 10 mm, multi-beam, ceramic laser whose beams can reach energies greater than 10 millijoules over a 800 picosecond pulse width, to ignite fuel for internal combustion.
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By James Van Howe | Posted: 21 April 2011
On Thursday May 5, from 8pm- 10pm, conference goers will be madly dashing from ballroom to ballroom to hear the latest breaking optics research- it’s like a geeky Black Friday for optical science. There are 36 talks in total, but because they are spread out among three sessions, you realistically can only hear 12. Trying to see more requires cat-like agility to maneuver around standing-room-only crowds. Good thing postdeadline abstracts were recently posted. Be sure to look through the agenda of sessions and plan
your evening.
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By Frank Kuo | Posted: 17 April 2011
In the last blog, we took a trip starting from quantum Zeno effect and reached to one of its applications — all-optical switch — at a quick pace. This time, we will look into more phenomena that researchers use in order to achieve this all-optical switch future.
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By Frank Kuo | Posted: 11 April 2011
Needless to say, scientists have been puzzled and fascinated by the quantum nature of the physical law for more than a century. The history of science is all over it and evolves with it. Having this in mind, it is very reasonable to see that the Science magazine has named the discovery of the quantum machine as the most significant scientific advance of 2010. It is the first quantum mechanical resonator that can actually be seen by bare eyes and deserves another detailed blog by itself.
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By James Van Howe | Posted: 7 April 2011
If you haven’t been to the CLEO 2011 conference website in the last week (or even if you have), it is worth taking a look at the video interviews with the programming chairs. There are 11 videos addressing the chairs’ top picks for talks, their views of trends in optics, advice for conference goers, and their impressions of CLEO’s scope and impact for optics research.
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By James Van Howe | Posted: 7 April 2011
This is just a short note to emphatically urge any U.S. citizens attending CLEO to sign up and participate in Capitol Hill Day during Thursday May 5, at the CLEO conference. The deadline for signing up is this Friday, April 8. OSA will arrange for you to meet with your district’s or state representative(s) so that you can describe the importance of the optics industry, optics and science research, and science education for your state. Your voice is particularly important to prevent harmful or devastating budget cuts to optics, as U.S. congress focuses on ways to cure a ballooning U.S. deficit through budget cuts.
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By Frank Kuo | Posted: 26 March 2011
When trying to search for more information about CLEO 2011 plenary speaker – Dr. Donald Keck, a pioneer and veteran in optical fiber technology, I realized that the best online resource to learn about optical fiber is not Wikipedia this time. It is actually the website of Corning. Apparently, as a company, Corning has a different standard in educating his customers. It puts a lot of efforts and resources into the contents. What impresses me about this website is that – it does not just pile the information day after day for you to dig in. It organizes the information so well that you just absorb the knowledge without noticing it. It contains knowledge for the beginners, amateurs, and serious researchers. All you need is a cup of coffee/tea and a nice break to enjoy it.
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