All Things Photonics - podcast cover

All Things Photonics

All Things Photonicswww.photonics.com
From space exploration and quantum optics, to biomedical imaging and defense, today’s top scientific minds are using lasers, spectroscopy, sensors, and optics to deliver cutting-edge innovation to our society. In intimate conversations with those pushing the boundaries of human knowledge, “All Things Photonics” spotlights photonics industry progress from beyond the lab. Hear how 3D printed microscopes — and those developed for a fraction of the cost — offer our best hope for diagnosing disease in the developing world; why spectroscopy might be the most valuable tool in the crime scene technicians’ arsenal; how light can motorize drug delivery; and how the quantum cascade laser, CMOS image sensor, and robot-assisted surgery became realities. Notable guests include Nobel Prize winner Donna Strickland; Columbia University Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering Michal Lipson; inventor of the CMOS image sensor Eric Fossum; serial entrepreneur Jason Eichenholz; co-namesake of the Hockney Falco Thesis Charles Falco; and SPIE President and founder of the Vanderbilt Biophotonics Center Anita Mahadevan-Jansen. “All Things Photonics”® is produced by Photonics Media and airs biweekly, on Tuesdays. The podcast was a shortlisted finalist in two categories — Best Science & Medical Podcast and Best Technology Podcast — for The Publishers Podcast Awards in 2021. It has again earned shortlist honors in the Best Science and Medical Podcast category for 2022. Contact us at Allthings@photonics.com.
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Episodes

The Neuromorphic Photonics Roadmap — With Paul Prucnal and Bhavin Shastri

Paul Prucnal, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Center for Network Security and Access (CNSA) at Princeton, and Bhavin Shastri, assistant professor in the Queen’s University Department of Physics, Engineering Physics & Astronomy, discuss the neuromorphic photonics roadmap and the technology area’s prospects for success. "All Things Photonics"® is produced by Photonics Media and airs biweekly, on Tuesdays. Sponsored by: PolyScience – www.PolyScience.com Lume...

Apr 23, 202434 minSeason 9Ep. 5

The Almighty Soliton — With Andrea Blanco-Redondo

As an endowed professor at The University of Central Florida College of Optics and Photonics (UCF CREOL), Andrea Blanco-Redondo focuses on some of the most exciting topics in photonics research. While some of her research interests are just beginning to emerge in commercial and consumer applications, others stand very solidly in the realm of R&D, eagerly awaited by industry. Our conversation spans topics in soliton photonics, slow light, and quantum topology. Also, Torsten Vahrenkamp and Mat...

Apr 09, 202446 minSeason 9Ep. 4

Inside Silicon Photonics — With Mario Paniccia

Silicon photonics’ evolution from application shrouded in uncertainty to discipline harboring vast application potential has commanded the attention of those in and beyond the fields of optics and photonics. Mario Paniccia, CEO of ANELLO Photonics, recounts his own journey through the budding sector, with recollections from his 20-plus-year career at Intel and insights from his latest undertaking: ANELLO Photonics’ silicon photonics optical gyroscope. "All Things Photonics"® is produced by Photo...

Mar 26, 202457 minSeason 9Ep. 3

Thermal Imaging and AI: Introducing HADAR — With Zubin Jacob

Zubin Jacob, Purdue University Elmore Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, discusses the convergence of thermal imaging and artificial intelligence. The recently developed heat-assisted detection and ranging (HADAR) technique offers performance advantages in low-light environments, in which other modalities face drawbacks. Also, we speak with TRAQC’s Mariia Zhuldybina and Benjamin Dringoli. The company recently took first place in the 2024 SPIE Startup Challenge. TRAQC’s s...

Mar 12, 202443 minSeason 9Ep. 2

The Mobile Photonics Lab Experience — With Michael Mohammadi and Bill Warger

The conceptualization, development, and rollout of Thorlabs’ Mobile Photonics Lab Experience is the ultimate story in optics and photonics accessibility. Thorlabs’ vice president for global sales and business development, Michael Mohammadi, and director of photonics education, Bill Warger, share insights into Thorlabs’ industry-acclaimed mobile resource as a vehicle for photonics education and technology outreach. "All Things Photonics"® is produced by Photonics Media and airs biweekly, on Tuesd...

Feb 27, 202428 minSeason 9Ep. 1

Low Loss — and High Gain — in Silicon Photonics — With Joyce Poon

Integrated Photonics luminary Joyce Poon caps Season 8 of "All Things Photonics" with a discussion and status update on the ascent of integrated photonics. From sustained high-level R&D to commercial prospects, 2024 is poised to be the year of the PIC. Poon offers insight into optical computing, integrated sensing, and datacenter AI. "All Things Photonics"® is produced by Photonics Media and airs biweekly, on Tuesdays.

Jan 09, 202447 minSeason 8Ep. 8

Sense and Measure — With Joseph Shaw and Sanathana Konugolu

True understanding is accomplished only through precise measurement. Though practitioners in the field deploy numerous modalities to obtain this essential information, remote sensing incorporates a spectrum of photonics technologies that is as broad and diverse as it is ubiquitous and effective. Joseph Shaw, director of the Optical Technology Center at Montana State University, overviews remote sensing technology, with a focus on core and novel applications, as well as core methods. In a bonus s...

Jan 02, 20241 hr 9 minSeason 8Ep. 7

Quantum Dot, Quantum Compute — With Peter Lodahl

The almighty nanoparticle known as the quantum dot is enjoying its moment in the sun — after innovations involving its discovery and development earned three photochemists a share of the Nobel Prize in chemistry earlier this fall. Peter Lodahl, head of the Quantum Photonics Group at the University of Copenhagen/NielsBohr Institute, director of the Danish National Research Foundation Center for Hybrid Quantum Networks, and founder of Sparrow Quantum, sheds light on the durability of quantum dots....

Dec 12, 202335 minSeason 8Ep. 6

MicroLEDs: A Marriage of Brightness, Efficiency, and Possibility — With Hongxing Jiang and Jingyu Lin

About 20 years ago, Hongxing Jiang and Jingyu Lin published a paper describing the microLED. Since the publishing of that seminal work, microLEDs have seen commercialization in automotive and industrial lighting applications, but for much of that time, Jiang and Lin’s envisioned application in display technology had been simmering on the backburner. Now, the technology is becoming a household name. With the holiday season approaching, consumers shopping for a new TV are noticing that the top of ...

Nov 28, 202345 minSeason 8Ep. 5

Influence in Photonic Integration — With Peter O’Brien and David McGovern

Peter O’Brien, director of the PIXAPP Photonics Packaging Pilot Line and head of the photonics packaging group at the Tyndall Institute, overviews the current state of integrated photonics technologies, as well as core considerations in the sector. Focus is given to packaging, heterogeneous integration, and dynamic collaboration. David McGovern, senior business development manager with the Irish Photonic Integration Centre (IPIC [Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Photonics]) and dep...

Nov 14, 202341 minSeason 8Ep. 4

Live From Optifab 2023 — With Chunlei Guo and Carolyn McMorran

“All Things Photonics” broadcasts from SPIE Optifab 2023 in Rochester, N.Y. In this episode from the heart of the optics industry, we speak with Chunlei Guo, from the University of Rochster’s Institute of Optics, and Carolyn McMorran, from central Florida’s Valencia College. Guo and his collaborators recently advanced their acclaimed fano-resonant optical coating technology, and our conversation spotlights the advance and its significance. McMorran is leading Valencia College’s new optics progra...

Oct 31, 202330 minSeason 8Ep. 3

Nanomedicine: Out of the Lab and Into the Field — With Andrea Armani

Photonic technologies like lab-on-a-chip are taking out a lot of the head-scratching and tedium that goes along with traditional diagnostic methods, giving patients and clinicians access to technology that is cheaper, quicker, and often more reliable. Andrea Armani, the Ray Irani Chair in Engineering and Materials Science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, is working at the forefront of this exciting technology and others that promise to revolutionize the world of medicine. In this episod...

Oct 24, 202339 minSeason 8Ep. 2

Beyond the Advent: Photonics and AI — With Tom Hausken

Longtime photonics market analyst and current industry adviser Tom Hausken delivers his expert insights into top-of-mind trends and drivers for the photonics sector. The prevalence of AI in and for photonics technologies permeates a conversation that also explores integrated photonics workforce development, government and policy perspectives, and technological competitiveness. Sponsored by: Teledyne Judson Technologies — www.TeledyneJudson.com "All Things Photonics"® is produced by Photonics Med...

Oct 10, 202327 minSeason 8Ep. 1

PATHS-UP: The Commercialization of Raman Instrumentation at the Point of Care — With Samuel Mabbott, Michael Matthews, and Cyril Soliman

The Precise Advanced Technologies and Health Systems for Underserved Populations initiative, or PATHS-UP, aims to integrate engineering research and education with technological innovation to transform national prosperity, health, and security. The National Science Foundation-funded collaboration also extends into industry, to ensure that positive R&D outcomes ascend into use in the wider community. In a panel discussion, host Jake Saltzman is joined by Samuel Mabbott, assistant professor in...

Jun 13, 202342 minSeason 7Ep. 8

Opportunity and Strategy in Semiconductors — With Walter Burgess

Microelectronics technology innovation and, more notably, recent legislation have brought to the fore the need for a unified strategy to ensure sustained positive outcomes in today’s semiconductor environment. Walter Burgess, co-CEO, Sales & Engineering at Power Technology Inc., is helping to spearhead many of the efforts that business and technology leaders in Arkansas are commencing to ensure they can best-leverage opportunities stemming from 2022’s Chips and Science Act. In this episode, ...

May 30, 202328 minSeason 7Ep. 7

Quantum Integrated Photonics: Drivers and Outcomes — With Matt Eichenfield (5/16/2023)

As separate disciplines, quantum science and integrated photonics are pushing the bounds of possibility in communication science, compute, data processing, and more. In tandem, the two realms are highly complementary. Matt Eichenfield, the SPIE Endowed Chair in Optical Sciences and associate professor of optical sciences at the University of Arizona Wyant College of Optical Sciences, spotlights quantum integrated photonics with a focus on applications and a look into the future of the field. "Al...

May 16, 202341 minSeason 7Ep. 6

Evolution of the Optics Shop, Workforce, and Industry — With Paul Melone (Thorlabs)

The changing nature of the "optics shop" — and, more broadly, its role in the optics and photonics industry today — is an effective gauge for tracking how optics workforce development is aligned to the ever-evolving needs of the industry. Recounting his own 40-plus-year professional journey, Paul Melone, global optics manufacturing director at Thorlabs, discusses his company’s ties to AmeriCOM (American Center for Optics Manufacturing) and how Thorlabs aims to identify and cultivate optics indus...

May 02, 202325 minSeason 7Ep. 5

Toward a Viable Holography — Scalable and Cost-Effective — With Theodore Marescaux and Mike Noonen

The brain trust of holographic extended reality startup Swave Photonics discusses the company’s scalable holographic chip technology. Company founder and chief product officer Theodore Marescaux and CEO Mike Noonen outline Swave’s diffractive photonics technology and inform on the company’s future plans following its first-place finish in the 2023 SPIE Startup Challenge at Photonics West 2023. “All Things Photonics” ® is produced by Photonics Media and airs biweekly, on Tuesdays....

Apr 18, 202330 minSeason 7Ep. 4

The Carrot and the Stick — Insights from PhotonDelta — With Ewit Roos

With its goal to cultivate and foster photonics-driven progress in the Netherlands, PhotonDelta today is a burgeoning cross-border ecosystem of photonic chip technology organizations. Around the central technology area of integrated photonics, the ecosystem's current aim is to leverage decades of expertise and dozens of strategic partnerships to create a production capacity of 100,000+ wafer per year by 2030. PhotonDelta CEO Ewit Roos discusses the mission and vision of the organization amid the...

Apr 04, 202334 minSeason 7Ep. 3

Checking in From NIF — Laser-Driven Fusion — With Jean-Michel Di Nicola (3/21/2023)

Three-and-a-half months after December 2022's breakthrough experimental result that yielded fusion ignition, Jean-Michel Di Nicola, chief engineer of laser systems at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and acting program co-director for laser science and system engineering at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, provides an update on sustained progress in fusion science. Di Nicola takes listeners inside NIF, and he offers his insights on next steps in big science. "All Things Photonics"® is...

Mar 21, 202332 minSeason 7Ep. 2

Utility in Infrared Imaging — A Biophotonics Perspective — With Rohit Bhargava

Rohit Bhargava, director of the Cancer Center at Illinois, follows his Photonics West 2023 Optical Biopsy Conference keynote with a discussion on increased utility in infrared spectroscopic imaging. Discussion points include the advent of the quantum cascade laser, the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning for optimized workflows, and optimizations in instrumentation leading to improved outcomes in clinical settings. “All Things Photonics”® is produced by Photonics Media and airs ...

Mar 07, 202334 minSeason 7Ep. 1

Big Image Data: Unveiling the Power of Raw Images — With Bruno Sanguinetti

In a world characterized by massive quantities of (often unusable) information sources, many facets of society have great need to turn raw data into an actionable tool. Bruno Sanguinetti, co-founder of Dotphoton, discusses his company’s solution that aims to harness the full potential of image data, taking data in its raw form and transforming it for the benefit of the medical, aerospace and defense, and industrial sectors. Where Dotphoton fits among the confluence of distinct technologies that ...

Jan 10, 202328 minSeason 6Ep. 7

Guided by Light: A Life in Fluorescence — With Isiah Warner

Isiah Warner, Boyd Professor and Emeritus Philip W. West Professor, Analytical & Environmental Chemistry, and former vice president for strategic initiatives at Louisiana State University (LSU), reflects on 20th- and 21st-century milestones in fluorescence science, as well as his own contributions to academic mentorship. The acclaimed spectroscopist has helped bring LSU’s total of African American Ph.D. graduates in chemistry from six prior to his arrival at the university, to nearly 100 tod...

Dec 13, 202230 minSeason 6Ep. 6

The Ascension of Meta-Optics — With Rob Devlin

Metalenz co-founder and CEO Rob Devlin recounts a decade of progress in the field of meta-optics, culminating in his company’s rollout of commercial products and technology offerings. Devlin’s insights span the growth of the market, current and forthcoming applications, and recollections of his time working in the group of photonics luminary Federico Capasso. “All Things Photonics”® is produced by Photonics Media and airs biweekly, on Tuesdays.

Nov 29, 202236 minSeason 6Ep. 5

The Utility of Lidar — Flood Prevention and Revelations from a Maya Settlement

Two lidar imaging use cases are explored. In segment one, the Texas Water Development Board’s Joey Thomas and Saul Nuccitelli explain how the organization uses topobathymetric lidar to help prevent flooding along the South Llano River. Later, the collaborative team of Kathryn Reese-Taylor, Felix Kupprat, and Juan Carlos Fernandez Diaz employs the method to investigate beneath the Calakmul biosphere’s forest canopy. “All Things Photonics”® is produced by Photonics Media and airs biweekly, on Tues...

Nov 15, 202254 minSeason 6Ep. 4

From Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science 2022

From on scene at Optica's Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science Show in Rochester, N.Y., All Things Photonics speaks with S.J. Ben Yoo, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of California, Davis and Daniil Lukin, of the Nanoscale and Quantum Photonics Lab at Stanford University. Plus, an exclusive conversation with the newly crowned winner of the Luminate NY Accelerator Competition. "All Things Photonics" is produced by Photonics Media and a...

Nov 01, 202233 minSeason 6Ep. 3

Biomedical Optics — The BioPhotonics Conference Episode with Brian Pogue

Brian Pogue, professor and chair of the Department of Medical Physics at the University of Wisconsin and the Maclean Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth College, is our guest. The episode explores the (sometimes conflict-characterized) relationship between industry and medicine, as well as cancer therapies and diagnostics, the evolution of standards, and biomedical device productization. These subjects and more are featured in the program for the BioPhotonics Conference to be held virtually by...

Oct 18, 202224 minSeason 6Ep. 2

Meta-Optics Fabrication and Commercialization — with Theodor Nielsen

NIL Technologies CEO and founder Theodor Nielsen discusses the road to commercialization for meta-optical elements, metalenses, diffractive optical elements, and other ultrasmall components. The interview spans the complete product life cycle — from conceptualization and design to fabrication and market placement, and focuses on high-growth, high potential industries at a critical juncture for the technology. "All Things Photonics" is produced by Photonics Media and airs biweekly, on Tuesdays....

Oct 04, 202226 minSeason 6Ep. 1

Ultrashort-Pulse X-Ray Sources and Laser Research — With Donna Strickland, Francois Légaré, And Heide Ibrahim

Nobel laureate Donna Strickland joins Francois Légaré and Heide Ibrahim from the Advanced Laser Light Source Laboratory (ALLS), located outside Montreal. The panel discusses the specifications of the ALLS laser systems, their functionality, and their applications in molecular imaging, agriculture, and metrology. Jan Lagerwall, head of the Experimental Soft Matter Physics group at the University of Luxembourg, introduces nonconventional applications for liquid crystals, including in sensing, mach...

May 24, 202244 minSeason 5Ep. 8

Brain Imaging and Measurement — All Things Neurophotonics With David Boas

David Boas, director of the Boston University Neurophotonics Center, is our guest. The episode introduces techniques including functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), laser speckle contrast imaging, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and interferometric diffuse correlation spectroscopy, with expert insight on the advances and neurophotonic applications for each method. Boas is founding editor-in-chief of the journal Neurophotonics published by SPIE, and he is founding president of the So...

May 10, 202228 minSeason 5Ep. 7
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