Jose Pozo’s Post

EUROPEAN PHOTONICS INNOVATION GOES BEYOND THE CHIPS. It was good to touch base with Pu Jian, the Deputy CEO of Brittany-based Cailabs, at the Photonics21 2024 AGM this week. They were in the news recently because of a long-distance laser communications record. This scale-up company has become a global deeptech company with three major hires to its US team, including the new President of Cailabs US Inc, Jeff Huggins. Huggins brings extensive experience as a CEO in the aerospace and defense sectors and as a business leader with a track record of driving growth at major companies. As you may have seen from other Optica postings, during the Photonics21 partner meeting this past week in Brussels, we learned that the EU’s Horizon Europe programme has allocated only 340 million euros for the photonics sector across the entire continent! This demands a rethink by photonics companies to avoid the impact of our work dropping below the funding radar. Pu Jian points out in the interview below that many photonics companies are SME’s. While they are good at working together, they bring a fragmented message when communicating the bigger picture to politicians, end-users and multi-national Semiconductor giants. Other regions have already embraced the crucial role that photonics is playing in scaling AI and other critical sectors. Why is it so difficult in Europe? If you agree with Pu Jian’s conclusions, then plan to be part of Optica’s global conversation in Malaga October 1-2, 2024. More info here: https://lnkd.in/ddAx2G2A. We need a stronger voice, and we need it now!

FOLLOWING THE MONEY FOR PHOTONICS—A CHANGE IN STRATEGY IS URGENTLY NEEDED. I’ve just had an inspiring interview with Jean-Luc Beylat of Nokia Bell Labs, who chairs Working Group 1 on Infrastructure at Photonics21. During the partner meeting this past week in Brussels, we learned that only 340 million Euros has been allocated by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme for the photonics sector across the entire continent! This demands a rethink to avoid the impact of our work dropping below the funding radar. In the interview below, we touched upon some of the well-funded public-private initiatives where photonics is being used but where the voice from the various photonics players is often drowned out by the much larger semiconductor multinationals. We learned from Jean-Luc Beylat that there is active contact with end-user initiatives such as Key Digital Technologies (KDJ JU) and, particularly, the Smart Network and Services Joint Undertaking. In fact, SNS JU executives Peter Stuckmann, Colin Willcock and incoming Executive Director Erzsébet Fitori have actively addressed Photonics21 meetings. But more needs to be done by everyone to communicate the key enabling role that photonics plays in quantum, Chips Act, AI, 6G, etc – all the new themes that politicians think have replaced photonics as the “new kid on the block”. In fact, photonics has never been more critical to the development of next-generation chips. But it requires a shift in mindset amongst many small and medium-sized photonics SMEs who are witnessing national and European funding streams shifting in emphasis. And now, with the arrival of the Chips JU initiative, we need to work even faster and louder. We’re delighted that active Optica Corporate member Nokia has agreed to send James Watt, VP of Optica Networks at Nokia, to the Global Photonics Economic Forum in Malaga in October (1-2) to explain their strategy going forward. If you want to be part of the conversation, make sure you register as soon as possible. https://lnkd.in/ddAx2G2A Reactions to this interview are welcome to me directly or in the comments below. One more thing. Here is the link to the free Strategic Paper on the Working Groups at Photonics21. Definitely worth reading and acting on. https://lnkd.in/eZaHx5Xt

Here are more views and opinions from this week’s Photonics21 partnership gathering in Brussels. I was struck by the realistic and clever strategy outlined by René Heideman, who, together with Hans van den Vlekkert, co-founded LioniX International over twenty years ago. I think he has wise words to share with us in our interview below. We hope to hear more at the Optica Global Photonics Economic Forum in Malaga, Spain, October 1-2, 2024. Now is the time to register interest and follow the money. https://lnkd.in/ddAx2G2A

Hello from Brussels where I am attending the annual Photonics21 partnership meeting of which Optica is an active participant in the discussions. The organisation released a free 104 page market study on the Global Photonics Industry today. You can download it here: https://lnkd.in/dJnXcMxq. After leafing through it, I asked Photonics21 President Dr Lutz Aschke for his takeaways from the meeting so far and what Europe needs to do next in photonics to remain competitive. Stay tuned. I hope to gather more opinions from this well-attended event. Markus Wilkens

LAST CALL ALPAO WEBINAR MAY 16th 10 AM EDT. It was great catching up at the CLEO Conference with Alexis JARRY and Valentin Le Marchand from ALPAO. We recorded their live demo in the video below. Want to follow up? Then sign up now for the free live session on Thursday, May 16th, 2024, 10AM EDT 4PM CEST, hosted by Optica. Don’t miss this one! ALPAO is an active Optica corporate member headquartered in Montbonnot-Saint-Martin, France, but active globally with its deformable mirrors in many markets. REGISTER: Immediately for your free seat in the Zoom Room: https://lnkd.in/eSj27GyY SPEAKERS. We are delighted to welcome these industry specialist speakers on board: Dr Olivier Guyon - Worldwide Renowned Astronomer at Subaru Telescope Naoj, winner of MacArthur Fellowship in 2012 and Dr David Barr - RTC Engineer at UK’s Durham University. This is a genuine opportunity to learn and engage with leading experts in this field. Get your questions ready! WHAT DOES ALPAO DO? With more than 16 years of experience, French adaptive optics pioneer ALPAO revolutionizes optics by removing aberrations. They do this by building deformable mirrors, wavefront sensors and software to fit the specific application. Products are tailor-made for astronomy, ophthalmology, microscopy, wireless optical communications and laser applications all with the goal of obtaining very high-resolution images. In addition to its commitment to innovation, ALPAO is involved in a specific French program to build a business climate alliance with other companies from various economic fields. ALPAO is also an active member of the Sesame collective, which works alongside associations and companies in the Grenoble (France) area to fight against exclusion, extreme poverty, and violence.

FRENCH LASER DIODE SOLUTIONS RAMPING UP FAST. When AeroDIODE developed their first nanosecond pulsed laser diode driver more than 15 years ago, they couldn’t have predicted how fast the demand would grow for flexible solutions. In 2024, they have a very broad offer of high-speed and low-noise laser diode drivers, fibre-coupled laser diodes, fibre-coupled high-speed modulators, synchronization electronic tools and reliability test solutions. At CLEO Conference 2024, AeroDIODE CTO Adèle Morisset walked me through their range and ex[explained what’s on the horizon. One thing that won’t change – is their mission to offer researchers and entrepreneurs clear pricing, fast delivery and ever smaller devices. We like that approach to business at Optica. AeroDIODE is a multinational company based in Bègles, France (near Bordeaux) plus a production centre in the famous optics and photonics cluster in #Bozeman, Montana. USA. (fun fact: On a per-capita basis, Bozeman, Montana has one of the highest densities of optics companies found anywhere in the United States.) Onward!

MEETING THE INVENTOR OF THE SLT WAVEGUIDE BY CHANCE: It is amazing the people you meet at the CLEO Conferences. As I walked around the exhibition last week, I spotted the joint Oxide Corporation/ Raicol Crystals stand. And I thought I also spotted OXIDE’s CEO, Yasunori Furukawa, quietly sitting at a table at the back of the stand. Indeed, it was him, and he was willing to talk to Optica, being an active corporate member. In laser crystal circles, Yasunori is a very famous entrepreneur who invented the Stoichiometric Lithium Tantalate (SLT) waveguide in Japan. (This proved superior to congruently grown Lithium Tantalate (CLT) as it is closer to the ideal ratio of Lithium to Tantalum (50:50). This improved ratio provides the crystal with much lower defect density, reducing the chances for optical damage and improves UV transmittance, at the same time having larger non-linear and electro-optic coefficients. When used in quasi-phase matched applications, SLT requires significantly less voltage during the periodical poling process, thus allowing the manufacture of thicker chips.) Yasunori went on to found OXIDE in October 2000 and, a year later, achieved the world’s first successful commercialization of Super LN/LT. So it was a delight to find out what questions the academics are asking Oxide these days, bearing in mind their pioneering work in both #quantum and #DUV Semiconductor Manufacturing. CLEO is now over for another year, but you can catch the Oxide team at the #4th Quantum Computing Expo at Tokyo Big Sight Inc. exhibition centre from May 22-24th 2024. They are certainly a company to watch. 

Analog Modules, Inc. SHOWCASE FROM FLORIDA. It was great to bump into Bruce Soileau again; who gave me several demos on new devices that Analog Modules, Inc. are developing in Longwood, Florida, for the most demanding market there is academics. Now, although academics usually only want one device, Bruce is happy with the knowledge that students often graduate to industry, and being front of mind when a company has a need for specialist laser drivers has proved to be good for business. Analog Modules, Inc. has been serving customers since 1979, and we thank them for their loyal corporate support of Optica events as well.

THE BEST PPKTP CRYSTALS COME FROM SWEDEN. At the recent CLEO Conference in Charlotte, NC I bumped into Swedish startup and Optica Corporate member SLF Svenska Laserfabriken AB (Eng: Swedish Laser Factory). Of course, I wanted to see their demo. They started as a spin-out company from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Today, SLF is a leading center for nonlinear optics and lasers. This Stockholm-based start-up produces “periodically poled KTP crystal” (PPKTP) and several devices based on PPKTP, both off the shelf and custom. They claim to produce the largest aperture periodically poled crystals on the market and with the shortest periods. The team consists of highly skilled engineers specialised in nonlinear optics and lasers, including CEO Max Widarsson and co-founder Dr. Staffan Tjörnhammar.

GET MORE DONE FASTER: SWABIAN REVOLUTIONISES TIME-CORRELATED SINGLE PHOTON COUNTING. Eight years ago, Swabian Instruments was founded by Helmut Fedder, Michael Schlagmüller, and Markus Wick. Their goal was to commercialize the new time-tagging technology that the team had developed at the University of Stuttgart. Today they are active on 3 continents with clients that include Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), Harvard University (USA), University of Cambridge (UK), University of Oxford, and Max Planck Institutes (DE). At CLEO Conference 2024, the dynamic Thomas Hayes of Swabian Instruments USA explains how they empower scientists around the globe to perform groundbreaking research faster, making maximum use of valuable resources. Their Time Tagger Series is widely regarded as the technology leader in time-correlated single photon counting instrumentation. Swabian is also a great example of a rapidly scaling deep-tech photonics company driven by visionary founders. And we are delighted they are an Optica Corporate Member. Onward!