Plenary speaker is out of this world

17 Jun 2002

An astronaut, a deep-sea diver and a neuroscientist are among the speakers at Photonics West.

One of the plenary speakers lined up for San Jose this year is quite literally out of this world. NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson has already been on two space shuttle missions and is scheduled for a third launch later this year.

On Tuesday morning, Robinson will tell delegates about the imaging technology used on board the shuttle. This includes robotic manipulation of modules used in the International Space Station, zero-gravity medical research and applications in the shuttle's payload bay.

The former research scientist will also present examples of scientific imaging for aerodynamic design and development.

The two other plenary speakers on the imaging theme are Semir Zeki from University College, London and Emory Kristof - a photographer for National Geographic. On Wednesday morning, Zeki will be revealing pioneering research into how the human brain constructs colour imagery, while Kristof is sure to illustrate his "20 000 bytes under the sea" talk on underwater imaging with spectacular images. Kristof, who talks on Thursday morning, has pioneered deep-sea camera and lighting technology, and he designed the camera system used to find the wreck of the Titanic.

On the optoelectronics side, Yasuhiko Arakawa from the University of Tokyo will talk about his recent progress on quantum dot (QD) devices, which promise high-efficiency, narrow-linewidth, temperature-independent devices.

Arakawa's research centers on gallium nitride devices, and on Tuesday afternoon he will reveal details of a optically-excited blue QD laser that operates at room temperature, and laser action in blue vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers.

After a turbulent year for the world of optical telecoms, Nortel vice-president Parviz Tayebati will share some thoughts in a talk entitled "Status of optical components in the telecom industry". Tayebati studied in the UK before setting up long-haul and metro network DWDM specialist Coretek, which was acquired by Nortel two years ago. He also talks on Tuesday afternoon.

Author
Michael Hatcher is technology editor of Opto & Laser Europe magazine.