An incredible week of light!
From the 21st to the 25th of June 2015, the International Congress Center of Munich, Germany, welcomed the European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO®/Europe) and the European Quantum Electronics Conference (EQEC). These two meetings belong to a series of conferences co-organized for over 20 years by the European Physical Society, the Optical Society (OSA) and IEEE Photonics Society. Hosted by LASER 2015 World of PHOTONICS, the world’s largest trade fair on Laser Technology, this 13th edition of CLEO®/Europe-EQEC was announced as the major European event of the International Year of Light.
It promised a lot and kept its promises.
CLEO®/Europe-EQEC 2015 indeed showed up as the largest, most comprehensive and exceptional gathering of optics and photonics researchers and engineers in Europe. This congress started with a high level opening that welcomed UNESCO representatives and international dignitaries joined together with the scientific community. It proposed not less than five Plenary sessions featuring four Nobel Laureates and world-class speakers, among whom Eric Betzig and Stefan Hell, 2014 Nobel prize winners in chemistry, and Theodor Hänsch and Serge Haroche, 2005 and 2012 Nobel prize winners in physics, respectively.
CLEO®/Europe 2015 showcased the latest developments in laser sources, materials, ultrafast science, fibre optics, nonlinear optics, terahertz sources, high-field physics, optical telecommunications, nanophotonics, biophotonics, photonics in defense and security. EQEC 2015 was devoted to the fundamental aspects of quantum optics, quantum information, atom optics, ultrafast optics, nonlinear phenomena and self-organization, plasmonics and metamaterials, as well as fundamental nanooptics, theoretical and computational photonics. Furthermore, a particular highlight of the 2015 programme was a series of special symposia surveying recent advances in the emerging areas of light management in photovoltaics, photonic lab-on-a-chip biosensors, laser-driven acceleration, optics in graphene and two-dimensional materials, and integrated quantum optics. Several joint and technical focus sessions were also organized in partnership between the different societies involved. Ten short courses covered a wide range of topics, from the characterization of ultrashort pulses to practical quantum optics, through the super-resolution optical microscopy and high-performance computing architectures for photonics.
On 23 June, the Prize Ceremony highlighted outstanding researchers who received prestigious awards. Sir John Pendry and Bahram Javidi received the EPS Quantum Electronics and Optics Prize, while Peter Toschek and John Dudley, EPS Vice President, received the OSA Herbert Walther Award and the Robert Hopkins Leadership Award, respectively. The young researchers were not forgotten: In cooperation with EPS Young Minds, 10 new Travel Grant Student Awards were attributed to the most deserving PhD students having an oral presentation at the meeting.
In summary, CLEO®/Europe-EQEC 2015 received more than 2,100 submissions, including the postdeadline papers, and welcomed more than 1,900 registered participants. These are record numbers, which underline the ongoing success and the high attractiveness of this biennal congress.
See you again in Munich at CLEO/Europe-IQEC 2017!
