EUROPA SCIENCE - Key Persons
The application of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to recycling on an industrial scale is only now taking off, according to Amy J.R. Bauer.
"Once it's implemented on a large scale, individual components like lasers and detectors will be fine-tuned for this use," she said. "Data analysis and sorting algorithms will develop alongside and permit the technique to be more effectively used."
As well as sitting as a committee member at events such as Optica's Sensing Congress, Bauer has appeared on Ocean Insight's own Applied Spectral Knowledge Podcast talking about LIBS' uses in materials analysis for mining and metals identification in recycling.
One of the short-term challenges she sees for LIBS in recycling is in how the materials are presented to the measuring laser. "This community is used to presenting materials for processing on a conveyor belt. This may not be optimal for all recycling processing schemes," she said.
Bauer can be found online at www.researchgate.net/profile/Amy-Bauer or www.linkedin.com/in/amy-j-ray-bauer-9496044/. She plans to attend Optica Sensing (Munich, July 2023), the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries trade show in Nashville in April 2023, and Aluminum USA in Nashville in October 2023.
Bernard Kress has had an unrivalled view on developments in augmented reality (AR) over the past 10 years, having been the principal optical architect on the Google Glass project and subsequently the partner optical architect on the Hololens team at Microsoft. He rejoined Google in January 2022 as the director for XR (extended reality) engineering.
Kress, who has published several books on micro-optics and holds more than 50 patents, believes that the display technologies needed for smart glasses and AR goggles are having a significant effect on photonics research. "Google's approach towards minimal form factor smart glasses for consumers requires novel optics and display architectures that are different from those required to develop larger AR goggles or MR headsets such as Hololens, Magic Leap, or even Meta Quest headsets," he said.
He believes the emphasis will be ‘on new architectures and fabrication technologies for optical combiners, both as free space and waveguides, as well as new display engine technologies, both scanning and panel-based, such as laser beam MEMS scanning RGB microLED panels'. In May, Google acquired Raxium, a five-year-old start-up that specialises in creating miniaturised, cost-effective, energy-efficient and high-resolution microLED displays.
However, Kress does not believe that the obstacles to consumer adoption of new use cases, such as contextual display in minimal form factor smart glasses and Metaverse immersive experiences in AR goggles, are technical alone.
"Developing hardware solutions allowing for small form factor and small power display systems is required, but without a strong universal use case offer it will not lead to mass adoption," he said.
The shrinking of optical combs is a huge opportunity, believes Pilot Photonics' CTO Frank Smyth.
Job Titles:
- Senior Engineer at the ESA
Iain McKenzie has been a senior engineer at the ESA for more than 20 years and is responsible for managing the R&D of fibre optic and photonic components for future space applications.
‘Laser communications is widely viewed as one of the big disruptive technologies that has the potential to change the way we communicate,' said McKenzie, underlying his belief that the ‘development of a co-package optical engine for on-board satellite digital processing' will be the most significant development in his research area.
‘I have been fortunate enough during my career to be exposed to both material and mechanical engineering and this has been immensely helpful, as so many of the problems that I face in my work in the end come down to materials and packaging,' he said.
The biggest challenge his research area faces in the near term is ‘developing commercial optical terminals that will offer scalable solutions for satellite constellations'.
You can find McKenzie online at linkedin.com/in/iain-mckenzie-830a9b/. He attends Industry Space Days at ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
Julie Sheridan Eng was named Coherent's CTO in October 2022 after three years running the photonics manufacturer's optoelectronic devices and modules business unit. In recent years, she has been involved primarily in the fibre optic communication and 3D sensing areas.
"Datacom is moving from 100G/lane to 200G/lane and from 400 Gbps to 800 Gbps to 1.6 Tbps modules. These advances are driving innovation in optical components such as GaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), InP directly modulated lasers (DMLs), InP electro-absorption modulated lasers (EMLs), InP CW lasers, InP modulators, and silicon photonics modulators, as well as InP and SiGe detectors," she said.
She believes one of the biggest challenges in datacom will be making the necessary advances in optical components on the timeline the industry needs them.
"These are serious physics advances to get to 200 Gbps. I can remember when people were saying they didn't think a VCSEL could operate above 10 Gbps, or a DML above 20 Gbps. There were also a lot of non-believers that EMLs could achieve uncooled performance, which has since been demonstrated. So, we are already achieving speeds and performance that people thought unachievable just a few years ago. But we need to keep innovating at a dramatic pace to keep up with the growth in bandwidth demand."
A tireless advocate of women's contributions to STEM, Julie is a past chair of the IEEE Committee on Women in Engineering and currently serves on the SPIE Executive Advisory Group.
Job Titles:
- Researchers
- Senior Vice - President of R & D at Toptica
Reto Häring was appointed senior vice-president of R&D at Toptica in April 2022, heading a scientific and engineering division of 95 people.
He said Toptica's driving force over the next 12 months will be the quantum computer: ‘As a provider of laser sources, we are working on the next generation of light sources for quantum. Thereby the laser itself becomes more and more a component and the systems for control of coherence, wavelength, locking and timing become more and more important.'
The big question around quantum computing for Häring is around whether researchers can manage to solve real world applications. He said: ‘That means not only that a challenge can be solved but also that it is economically attractive. That makes the difference between a promising technology and a solution.' He believes that interaction and communication between teams is vital: ‘Inclusion of different disciplines in physics and engineering are key to success.'
You can find Häring online at www.linkedin.com/in/reto-haering-4213a56/ and he is a regular attendee at Photonics West and the Laser World of Photonics.
Job Titles:
- General Manager, Ocean Insight Applied Systems