By Staff
The CLEO team sat down with 2014 Chairs (Bill Munro and Roberto Morandotti, General Co-Chair and Program Co-Chair, Fundamental Science; Rene-Jean Essiambre and Craig Arnold, General Co-Chairs Science & Innovations and Eric Mottay, Program Co-Chair, Applications & Technology) for insight on this year’s esteemed Plenary Speakers. The Chairs also talked about why it is beneficial for technical attendees to stop by the CLEO: Expo, featuring over 300 leading companies from around the world.
CLEO Team: Can you tell us a little about the Plenary Speakers this year?
Bill Munro: I’m very excited about our plenary speaker, Gerhard Rempe, he is one of the world’s leading scientists in the field of quantum communication and quantum technologies. So he’s going to give a beautiful overview of this particular subject area with a talk on Quantum Coherent Networks; and this will lead nicely into the various symposiums that follow. Rempe comes from one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, the Max-Planck Institute, known for their fundamental science. His accomplishments…are numerous.
Rene-Jean Essiambre: We are very excited to have Professor Larry Coldren from the University of California at Santa Barbara to talk to us about photonic integrated circuits. Coldren is a very distinguished member of the scientific community. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and he has done tremendous contributions to the field. He’s going to talk about photonic integrated circuits at the plenary session. He will discuss the advantages of various integrated technologies and what needs to be done to add functionalities and make them more successful. Photonic integrated circuits have started to make significant commercial impact, and it seems to be destined to do more. This plenary talk is a great opportunity to hear from an expert in the field about challenges and future opportunities for photonic integrated circuits.
OSA Senior Science Advisor interviews CLEO General Chair Rene-Jean Essiambre.
Eric Mottay: The plenary speaker for Applications & Technology is Dave Payne of Southampton University; and, actually he might not remember but Dave Payne was my supervisor in my very first internship in my career in Southampton; and it’s a leading team which delivered pioneering work on fiber lasers. Dave Payne is a great speaker, so I’m looking forward to this plenary talk (on Fibres and the future).
CLEO Team: We hear a lot about the Technical Program, but why should attendees also make their way over to the EXPO?
Roberto Morandotti: I think it’s very important to go to the exhibit; and you may be surprised to hear this since my area is fundamental science but, we need to talk to Industry. …. I’ve seen a trend which is very pronounced in Canada where I work, but also in the USA and the rest of Europe, in which the government would like us to work together …… to try to develop products together.
So, for me, it’s very important to go to the exhibition, not only to see what are the latest products, and what are the latest lasers and if I can buy devices that can be used for new research, but also to see … how we can really use the technology or the science we are developing, which somehow is a bit abstract.. it is exciting to really create products that can influence the society, it can be used by the general public, and improve everybody’s life. So because of this reason , it is becoming for me more and more important to attend these kinds of exhibits
Eric Mottay: The exhibition at CLEO is a further step from the path of science to real life applications. We see the fundamental sessions of CLEO, application of technology basically showing where the industry will be in three to five years; and the exhibition shows where the industry is right now. And, it’s a very unique way to get in touch with a number of our scientific customers because of their traction that CLEO has with the scientific community, but also with industrial customers looking into new applications, new processes.
Craig Arnold: Another really exciting trend that we’re having at CLEO this year and something that’s been going on for the past few years has been the interaction between the technical program and the trade show and exhibitors. One of the really exciting things this year is the continuation of the market-focused program, as well as the technology transfer program. ..This has been an opportunity for people who are working on technologies and working on science to see how that science and technology is transitioned from their research labs into the real world, so to speak.
So we have a number of interesting speakers coming from both universities, research labs, as well as from industry, to talk about their experiences; and that’s part of the larger program where we’re going to have exhibitors, as well as people developing technologies, talking on the trade show floor. And this has been an exciting program development, not just for our attendees, but also for the companies and exhibitors that present; and it gives them an opportunity to really see what’s going on in the research field, and for the researchers to really see how their technologies are being applied in the real world.
Visit cleoconference.org for more information on the Plenary Program and Exhibit Hall Activities. CLEO: 2014 takes place 8-13 June 2014 in San Jose, CA, USA.
Posted: 5 May 2014 by
Staff
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