Special Symposia at Frontiers in Optics 2009/Laser Science XXV

The Future of 3-D Display: The Marketplace and the Technology

Symposium organizer: Hong Hua; Univ. of Arizona, USA

3-D displays have become substantially critical for many applications, including medical and scientific visualization, flight simulation and training, engineering design, and entertainment. One example is the reviving enthusiasm in 3-D cinema. A recent animated film, “Beowulf”, was shown in 3-D in many theaters around the world and generated millions of dollars in box office revenue. There is also increasing interest in developing 3-D home entertainment systems. On the technology side, many of the traditional displays methods, such as 3-D projection systems and head mounted displays, have been making steady improvements, and several different new display concepts and technologies have emerged. This symposium aims at bringing together researchers who are involved in 3-D display technologies, a range of applications, and research vis-à-vis human factor.

Keynote Speaker:
3-D Entertainment, a Revolution that has Already Started, Rod Archer; RealD Inc., USA

Tutorial Speaker:
What Should We Know about Human Depth Perception in Construction of 3-D Displays? Martin Banks; Univ. of California at Berkeley, USA

Invited Speakers:
Lightfield Displays, Tibor Balogh; Holografica, Hungary
A Novel 3-D Display that Presents Nearly Correct Focus Cues, Martin Banks; Univ. of California at Berkeley, USA
Volumetric 3-D Displays and Applications: A Survey of the Current State-of-the-Art, Gregg Favalora; Actuality Systems, USA
Three-Dimensional Sensing, Visualization and Display by Integral Imaging, Bahram Javidi¹, Manuel Martinez², Adrian Stern³, Edward Watson⁴; ¹Univ. of Connecticut, USA, ²Univ. of Valencia, Spain, ³Ben Gurion Univ., Israel, ⁴AFRL, USA
3-D TV Based on Integral Method Using Extremely High-Resolution Video System, Masahiro Kawakita; Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK), Japan
Large Area 3-D Updateable Holographic Displays Using Photorefractive Polymers, Nasser Peyghambarian; Univ. of Arizona, USA
Volumetric True 3-D Display Using Multi-Focal Scanned Light, Brian Schowengerdt; Univ. of Washington, USA
The Emergence of Revolutionary Optical Surface Shapes: Will They Enable New Opportunities for Head Worn Displays, Kevin P. Thompson; Optical Research Associates, USA
Accommodation Responses to Stereoscopic Images, Kazuhiko Ukai; Waseda Univ., Japan
Development of Integral Images, Pingfan Wu; 3M Co., USA

Gravitational Wave Interferometry from Earth and Space

Symposium organizer: Michael Barnes¹, David Reitze²; ¹Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst, USA, ²Univ. of Florida, USA

Within the past 10 years, kilometer-scale terrestrial gravitational wave detectors have been built to search for gravitational waves emitted from cataclysmic astrophysical sources such as colliding black holes and the Big Bang. In order to detect gravitational waves, surface-based interferometers have been developed with unprecedented sensitivities, approaching 10^-19 m/s. Plans are underway to develop space-based gravitational wave detectors that will open up a whole new window on the universe. Large-scale underground optical and atom interferometers are in the planning phases. This symposium will cover the emerging field of gravitational wave astronomy with an emphasis on the central role lasers and optical technologies play in the operation of gravitational wave detectors.

Tutorial Speaker:
Gravitational Wave Interferometry, Peter Fritschel; MIT, USA

Invited Speakers:
Enhanced and Advanced LIGO, Rana Adhikari; Caltech, USA
The Virgo Gravitational Wave Detector, François Bondu; Observatoire de la Côte d'azur, ARTEMIS, UMR OCA/CNRS, France
Japanese Gravitational Wave Detectors: LCGT and DECIGO, Seiji Kawamura; Univ. of Tokyo, Japan
GEO600 and Directions in Optics-Related Research for Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detector, Sheila Rowan; University of Glasgow, UK
LISA: Detecting Gravitational Waves from Space, Daniel Shaddock; Australian Natl. Univ., Australia

Laser Science Symposium on Undergraduate Research

Symposium organizer: Harold Metcalf; Stony Brook Univ., USA

This special DLS annual symposium is rapidly becoming one of the most successful DLS traditions (this year's is the ninth of a series that began at the Long Beach meeting in 2001). During the past several years the number of undergraduates presenting papers has grown from only 10 to nearly 40, and the talks have been of outstanding quality, some absolutely stellar. Last year's posters were outstanding as well, and generated a great deal of lively interest and on-the-spot discussion. This year's symposium will consist of afternoon poster and oral sessions. The event provides an opportunity for some of the student members of our community, who are already among the finest young scientists to be found anywhere, to present their work before an audience of their peers as well as the larger optics community. All are invited and encouraged to attend the sessions.

Optics for Imaging at the Nanoscale and Beyond

Symposium organizers: Lahsen Assoufid, Ian McNulty, Christian Schroer, Valeriy Yashchuk; Argonne Natl. Lab, USA

Powerful and exciting new tools have enabled imaging with light at unprecedented resolution reaching well into the nanoscale, from the visible to the x-ray region. This symposium brings the latest optical methods for nanoscale imaging across a broad spectral range to the fore. Rapidly developing techniques are covered including single-molecule fluorescence and coherent diffractive imaging, and novel optical elements such as 4-PI lenses, Fresnel zone plates, and singular optics. Researchers in fundamental as well as applied and industrial fields will find this symposium to address a wide range of topics relevant to imaging with light at the nanoscale.

Tutorial Speaker:
Introduction to X-Ray Diffraction Limited Optics, David Attwood; Lawrence Berkeley Natl. Lab, USA

Invited Speakers:
Nanoscale X-Ray Focusing with Zone Plates, Hans Hertz; KTH/AlbaNova, Sweden
Nano- and Micro-Focusing Optics as well as Their Applications to Material Sciences, Gene Ice; Oak Ridge Natl. Lab Central Res. Library, USA
Title to Be Announced, Jörg Maser; Argonne Natl. Lab, USA
Coherent Scanning Diffraction Microscopy, Ptychography, Andreas Menzel; Paul Scherrer Inst., Switzerland
Singular and Other Novel X-Ray Diffractive Optics, Anne Sakdinawat; Lawrence Berkeley Natl. Lab, USA
X-Ray Refractive Optics for Nanofocusing, Anatoly Snigirev; European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, France
Fabrication of Freeform Mirrors: Metrology and Figuring, Helge Thiess; Carl Zeiss Laser Optics GmbH, Germany
10nm-Level Focusing of Hard X-Rays by KB Mirrors, Kazuto Yamauchi; Osaka Univ., Japan
Future Developments for Hard X-Ray Zone Plates, Wenbing Yun; Xradia, USA

Phase Space Optics—Optical System Theory for the 21st Century

Symposium organizer: Markus Testorf; Dartmouth College, USA

This special symposium is aimed at promoting phase space optics, i.e. optical system theory in terms of the Wigner distribution function and related joint signal transformations. In recent years phase space optics has expanded its scope significantly, and it is recognized as an important complement to standard Fourier optics. Important applications that have benefited from phase space concepts include phase retrieval, computational imaging with extended focal depth, and generalized sampling strategies. The special symposium will feature invited presentations given by experts representing the cutting edge of research in this area.

Tutorial Speaker:
Wigner Distribution, Partial Coherence, and Phase Space Optics, Martin Bastiaans; Technische Univ. Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Invited Speakers:
The Connection between Rays and Waves, Miguel Alonso; Inst. of Optics, Univ. of Rochester, USA
Phase-Space Projections: The Radon-Wigner Transform, Walter Furlan; Univ. of Valencia, Spain
Digital Holography Explored in Phase Space, Bryan Hennelly; Natl. Univ. of Ireland, Ireland
Novel Optical Devices for Extended Field of View, Jorge Ojeda-Castaneda; Univ. of Guanajuato, Mexico
The Space-Bandwidth Product SW: How Do We Define S and W, William Rhodes; Florida Atlantic Univ., USA

OSA Topical Meeting Highlights

Symposium organizer: Michael Duncan, NRL, USA

OSA offers a wide variety of topical meetings where cutting-edge research is presented. In an effort to bring some of the outstanding presentations that are given at these meetings to a broader audience, the committee has chosen, for the fourth year in a row, to offer a special session devoted to important papers from many of the topical meetings. One select presentation from each of a number of topical meetings held in 2009 (or late 2008) will be highlighted so that FiO attendees may see the type of exciting research being reported. The papers in this special session have been chosen by topical meeting attendees and by the topical meeting chairs.