The CLEO Hub

Space Optics is a high-profile and universally inspiring part of photonics research and industrial effort. Great telescopes in orbit, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, provide researchers with tools to test and refine profound predictions of astrophysics through high-resolution imaging of distant objects. Space-based telescopes are also used to study critical processes on Earth. For example, the ATLAS instrument on ICESAT-2 applied LiDAR to study the dynamics of ice sheets around our planet’s polar regions. Within the last eight years, science payloads such as NASA’s Cold Atom Lab and an array of instruments aboard the Chinese National Space Agency’s Tiangong-2 space station performed quantum atomic and quantum optical experiments in orbit, relying heavily on advances in optics and photonics instrumentation. Beyond science, private corporations and government-led projects worldwide plan to launch communication satellite fleets linked with laser terminals. New challenges exist in deploying the scalable and high-performance optical instruments required to meet the objectives of future communications and science missions.  
 
The optical panel discussion for Space Optics brings together leaders in the field to discuss the state of the industry, key open-science questions to be addressed with optics in space and to share career-development perspectives with the CLEO community. 

Moderator

• Makan Mohageg, Boeing, USA

Panelists

• Zach Lapin, Technical Program Manager, Fibertek, USA
• Lute Maleki, CEO, OEwaves, USA
• Chris Maloney, Managing Director of US Operations & Director of Business Development, VPIphotonics, USA
• Thomas Wood, Senior Director, CACI, USA

Attochron, LLC has developed a free-space optical communications system using broadband light sources in the 1540 nm wavelength band. The links can transmit >1 GbE signals over >1 mile under a wide range of atmospheric conditions. We discuss the technical achievements and present a model for propagation of low coherence optical sources developed for this application [1]. Furthermore, we discuss scaling to higher data rates and longer distances, and give a perspective on use cases and status of commercial development of this technology.

[1] “Atmospheric propagation of femtosecond optical pulses: Gaussian beamlet model of coherence effects,” Wayne H. Knox, Alex LeBon, Taz Colangelo, Brian Gregory, Tom Chaffee, Proceedings Volume 12691, Laser Communication and Propagation through the Atmosphere and Oceans XII; 126910N (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2676888

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Speaker

• Wayne Cox, Univ of Rochester

IPG’s CLPF series, based on a proprietary Cr:ZnS ultrafast laser technology, uniquely combine multi-Watt average power, multi-octave instantaneous spectrum and ultra-low noise. We will describe the main features of CLPF series and give an overview of their applications in spectroscopy from the UV to THz regimes, including dual-comb spectroscopy.

Moderators

• Mike Mirov, IPG Photonics Corporation, Mid-IR Lasers, USA

Presented By

Our study introduces an innovative Quantitative Phase Microscopy (QPM) system, addressing the affordability and technical limitations hindering the widespread adoption of advanced microscopy. Traditional QPM solutions, including costly spatial light modulators and mechanically sensitive dual-beam setups, fall short in biological laboratories' dynamic environments. Our solution, a common-path QPM system utilizing a birefringent liquid crystal material, overcomes these obstacles by offering a stable, cost-effective alternative for non-invasive, real-time imaging.

This approach leverages the optical anisotropy of liquid crystals for simultaneous phase-shifted image acquisition, significantly improving accuracy through a four-step phase-shifting algorithm optimized for the Pancharatnam-Berry geometric phase. Validated against a NIST-traceable phase object, our system proves its precision in real-time observation of dynamic processes, such as volume changes in evaporating droplets.

By mitigating cost and stability issues, this breakthrough paves the way for the global democratization of high-tech microscopy. It promises to revolutionize our understanding of cellular dynamics, making advanced imaging techniques more accessible worldwide and fostering new discoveries across various biological fields.

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Speaker

• Rosario Porras-Aguilar, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Recent advance in the field of RF-Photonics has showed unprecedent capability in the signal processing and generation. The major advantage in photonics is the ultra-low loss and high Q system that allow the RF-Photonic system to manipulate “time”. For example, conventional way to detect and processing a signal is using a detector to convert the live wave signal and ADC to process the signal in the digital domain. When a signal is only available for a short duration, the maximum signal detection time is limited by the signal’s pulse-width. There is not enough time to process the signal and provide a high-resolution spectral determination. We introduce a new analog-time-domain-auto-correlation processing technique that "follows” the single live electromagnetic wave pulse while perform the correlation. A single short RF pulse signal modulates a laser carrier and generates a pair of input signals by two RF sidebands which are sent into a fiber-optic-recirculation-loop system. The two sidebands travel at slightly different speeds due to the dispersion of the optical fiber. The dispersion time could be one millionth of the signal travel time in the fiber. By making a large number of circulations and tapping a small portion of the signal pulse replica for each round-trip, a photodetector and square-law RF detector can perform an analogue auto-correlation. A fast Fourier-transformation is performed to obtain the frequency spectrum of the original signal. We demonstrated a high-resolution spectrum from a 30ns short high frequency RF pulse. This technique allows us to “stretch” time by million times and avoid needing a high-frequency ADC to obtain a “snapshot” in the frequency domain for ultra-short or transient events. This technology opens the door for many new type of detection/measurement system applications to study ultra-short and/or transient events. Another example is to use high Q loop resonators to generate ultra-short soliton pulse which produce coherent optical-frequency comb. These combs can provide ultra-low-loss RF frequency source. These photonic loop systems revolutionize the future RF electronic systems.

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Speaker

• Weimin Zhou, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

This panel centers on recent announcements of government funding awards in optics and photonics, including some related to the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act. The CHIPS and Science Act was signed into law in 2022, and the government has recently made some awards and development grants to develop a full proposal. Meanwhile, the IPSR-I (Integrated Photonic Systems Roadmap-International, a collaboration between PhotonDelta and the MIT Microphotonics Center, has a new edition of its roadmap to address photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology. Come to hear about these developments and what may be coming to optics and photonics.

Moderator

• Jose Pozo, Chief Technology Officer, Optica, USA

Panelists

• Craig Arnold, Vice Dean for Innovation, Princeton University, USA
• Tom Brown, University of Rochester Institute of Optics, USA
• Devin Collins, Regional Innovation Officer, Carolinas Innovation Center for Optics and Metrology, USA
• Jurgen Michel, MIT Microphotonics Center, USA
• Volker Sorger, Founding Director of the Florida Semiconductor Institute, University of Florida, USA

Join current and past Optica Ambassadors to learn more about that program and other Optica Foundation events, scholarships, prizes, grants, and volunteer opportunities at Optica.

This panel discussion will explore the viability of a (profitable) commercial quantum marketplace emerging within the next five years. The panel will include prominent representatives from the quantum hardware space, funding agencies, academia and working groups, exploring the potential for a burgeoning business case for this sector in the near term. The key question to be addressed is: Will we soon experience a quantum winter or a quantum spring?

Moderators

• Garrett Cole, Manager, Thorlabs Crystalline Solutions, USA
• Daniel Renner, Principal, Atacama Optics & Electronics, USA

Panelists

• Justin Cohen, Program Manager, DARPA MTO, USA
• Scott Davis, CEO, Vescent Photonics, USA
• Klea Dhimitri, Applications Engineer and Quantum Lead, Hamamatsu, USA
• Fred Kish, Distinguished M.C. Dean Professor of ECE, Director NCSU Nanofabrication Facility, NC State University, USA
• Le Luo, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist, QUDOOR Technologies, Inc., China
• Celia Merzbacher, Executive Director QED-C, SRI, USA
• Mark Tolbert, President TOPTICA Photonics Inc., USA

Electrochemistry is a powerful tuning knob for inducing drastic optical property changes. By applying an electrical bias while using counterions to maintain charge neutrality, electrochemistry can vary the carrier density or even trigger a phase transformation in an electrically addressable manner, which is particularly desirable in many applications where tunable range, scalability, or non-volatility is crucial. Meanwhile, metamaterials provide additional degrees of freedom to boost performance and achieve multifunctional control. However, electrochemically active metasurfaces are still largely underexplored, partly due to the lack of intrinsic property databases for newly developed materials. More co-development is needed among fundamental materials science, metasurface design, and electrochemical device engineering. In this talk, I will present two types of electrochemically active materials: (i) Conducting polymers for near-perfect dynamic thermal emitter. We conducted infrared ellipsometry to measure the potential-dependent optical property and designed a tunable metal-dielectric-metal near-perfect absorber for wearable variable emittance (WeaVE) devices for personal thermoregulation. (ii) Reversible metal electrodeposition for multispectral solar and mid-infrared control. The potential, electrolyte, and interfacial properties dictate the metal morphology, allowing reversible switching between a solar absorber and a radiative cooler for all-year-round renewable thermoregulation for net-zero-energy buildings.

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Speaker

• Po-Chun Hsu, UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

The scintillation index is often left out of the denominator of the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) equation needed to quantify SATCOM Bit Error Rate (BER).  This talk will present the correct SNR equation and compare a set of theoretical uplink and downlink BER predictions with a set of the BERs measurements derived from National Institute of Information and Communications Technology’s Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite Phases 3 and 4, and German Aerospace Center experiments. The theoretical estimates and data are in reasonable agreement for elevation angles greater than 20 degrees. 

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Speaker

• Larry Stotts, Texas A&M Engineering

IPG's high peak power, high energy, nanosecond pulsed lasers based on Ho:YAG and Er:YAG effectively leverage the advantages of fiber lasers and combines them with the best aspects of bulk solid state lasers to achieve exceptional output characteristics. These lasers deliver high pulse energies of up to 120 mJ (2090 nm, Ho:YAG) and 30 mJ (1645 nm Er:YAG) in a small form-factor. 

Presented By

Nuclear fusion promises an abundant, inexhaustible source of clean energy without the greenhouse gas emissions of fossil fuels or the radioactive waste of nuclear fission. The last few years have seen enormous progress towards functional fusion using lasers for inertial confinement. Scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California (LLNL) managed to produce, for the first time in December 2022, a nuclear fusion reaction that released more energy than it used. This critical milestone paves the way for the future of clean energy generation. This panel discussion aims to provide a short overview of activities toward laser inertial confinement fusion and reality checks on global expectations. The speakers come from academia, large governmental organizations and fusion startups from around the world to provide a diverse perspective.

Moderators

• Gabrielle Thomas, Group Leader Marketing, Menlo Systems GmbH, Germany

Panelists

• JC Btaiche, CEO and Founder, Fuse, USA
• Mike Campbell, Principal, MCM Consultants, USA
• Susan Reyes, VP for Chamber and Plant Design, Xcimer Energy Corporation, USA

Optoelectronic oscillators with time-delayed feedback are of interest for generating precise frequencies, waveforms with chaotic dynamics and for exploring the dynamics of networks of coupled nonlinear oscillators.  We will describe experiments with an optoelectronic oscillator where single photons are detected and one can watch the progression from shot noise to the birth of a chaotic attractor.  Detecting single photons in the mid-infrared wavelength range for fiber optic communications with avalanche photodiodes is of interest for many applications, and we explore how such photon counting experiments can be affected by after-pulsing and dead time effects.  Synchronization of remotely located oscillators with entangled photons is a challenging problem with weak light sources.  We examine the question of non-local polarization alignment and control in fiber from correlated measurements of entangled photons.

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Speaker

• Rajarshi Roy, University of Maryland