Joseph H. Eberly Symposium

On 28 September, a special symposium was held at FiO+LS to celebrate the life and science of 2007 Optica President Joseph H. Eberly. Eberly, who passed away in 2025, was a pioneer in quantum optics from the field’s earliest days. He was a dedicated mentor and teacher who inspired generations of physicists, including experimentalists and theorists. The session brought together members of the scientific community to share their recent research and to reflect on the enduring legacy of his work with his Society and in the field.

FiO+LS Awards Ceremony

The 2026 FiO+LS Awards Ceremony honored 2026 Optica Fellows, Optica Honorary Members Duncan T. Moore (1996 Optica President) and Margaret M. Murnane, Optica Foundation prize recipients, and 13 recipients of Optica Awards and Medals, including Esther Hoffman Beller Medal recipient Imrana Ashraf, Stephen D. Fantone Distinguished Service Award winner George Bayz, and Nick Holonyak Jr. Award recipient Steve DenBaars.

Optica Foundation at FiO+LS

The Optica Foundation held two special events co-located with FiO+LS in Rochester, NY, USA. The first was the Amplify Optics Immersion Program, which is designed to highlight research, technology and careers in optics and photonics for underrepresented students in graduate programs. From 27 to 29 September, attendees heard from world-renowned lecturers, with time split between programming designed specifically for Immersion attendees, joint activities with the Optica Student Leadership program, and FiO talks and programming.

The second special event was the Women Scholars Conference, which took place from 28 to 30 September. The Optica Foundation launched the Optica Women Scholarship program in 2022, allocating 20 scholarships of US$10,000 to exceptional students worldwide. To continue to support these remarkable young women and to provide a foundational network of colleagues and mentors, a conference was developed for the Women Scholars. The event provides in-person networking, skills-building, and mentoring from senior women leaders in the field.

Student Leadership

Kicking off FiO+LS from 27 to 29 September, Optica welcomed 90 student chapter presidents from 29 countries as part of the society’s Student Leadership event—a program that unites student leaders from around the globe while immersing them in programming to advance their careers. In addition to networking with each other, the students engaged with a large number of Optica Ambassadors as well as keynote speakers William J. Cassarly, Keysight Optical Design Engineering, USA, and Jacquiline Romero, University of Queensland, Australia.

Siegman International School on Lasers in Milan

From 30 August to 5 September, the Optica Foundation’s Siegman International School on Lasers brought the next generation of optics and photonics leaders together in Milan, Italy, for technical learning, research exchange and global connection. The 12^th edition of the School was hosted by Politecnico di Milano and the Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IFN), and it welcomed 57 participants representing 25 countries. Participants learned from leading researchers, professors and industry experts while exploring topics across lasers and photonics. Program chairs Shane Eaton, Cristian Manzoni, Francesco Canella and Giulio Cerullo played an important role in creating a learning experience designed specifically for emerging researchers.

Global Photonics Economic Forum

From 24 to 25 September, the third edition of the Global Photonics Economic Forum (GPEF 2026) took place in Málaga, Spain. This flagship event unites top executives and exhibitors from across the global photonics industry to define and share joint strategies to tackle the current volatile geopolitical landscape.

This year’s Forum also included an Optica i4 prize ceremony, networking events and an exhibition. The CEO Panel, moderated by Stefan Traeger, President & CEO, TecInvest, featured Michael Hurlston, President & CEO, Lumentum; Mark Gitin, CEO, IPG Photonics; Carlotta Baumann, CEO, Finetech; John T.C. Lee, President & CEO, MKS; Aldo Kamper, CEO, ams OSRAM; Holly Hulse, President & CEO, Lightera; Satish Dhanasekaran, President & CEO, Keysight; Hong Hou, President & CEO, Semtech. Through eight keynotes and seven panel discussions, leaders from companies large and small shared strategic insights shaping the industry’s future.

In Memoriam: Nicholas George

OPN and Optica mourn the loss of Optica Fellow Nicholas George, professor emeritus and former Director of the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester, who passed away in September at age 98. He was the Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Electronic Imaging at the University of Rochester and founding director of the Center for Electronic Imaging Systems, funded in part by the NSF under the S/IUCRC program. Previously he was a professor of applied physics and electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology. He served as principal thesis advisor to 20 doctoral students at Caltech, and 26 doctoral students and four MS students at Rochester.

He was known for his pioneering contributions in diffraction theory, holography, laser speckle, automatic object recognition, and extended-depth-of-field imaging systems. His many firsts in the field of modern optics include the holographic stereogram, the ring-wedge detector robotic vision system, and the logarithmic aspheric lens for extended depth of field imaging.

In 2015, the Nicholas George Endowed Professorship in Optics was created at the University of Rochester with funding from generous former students and colleagues. Upon retirement, George and his wife Carol moved west, where he enjoyed living in the beauty of the central coast of California while continuing to ponder the endless mysteries of the optics world. —2003 Optica President G. Michael Morris

In Memoriam: Henri Arsenault

Optica Fellow Henri H. Arsenault, professor emeritus at Université Laval, Canada, passed away in July at the age of 88. His loss is deeply felt by the international optics community, to which he contributed through his scientific work, generosity, mentorship and commitment to building lasting collaborations.

Henri maintained close links with the optics community in Spain over several decades. He collaborated with university groups, supported researchers at different stages of their careers and helped strengthen their presence within the international optics community. Henri was deeply committed to training new generations of researchers. He generously shared his knowledge, experience and international connections; welcomed graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and visiting scientists from different countries; and helped create opportunities for others to grow professionally.

His support, mentorship and generosity helped open doors and foster international visibility for many researchers. This commitment to people and the scientific community remains an essential part of his legacy. —Pascuala García-Martínez, Universitat de València; Carlos Ferreira, Universitat de València; and María J. Yzuel, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Optica Foundation Prizes Supporting Laser Research

The Optica Foundation recently announced the winners of two research prizes. Ji Eun Bae, CIMAP, CNRS, France, received the Bernard J. Couillaud Prize in Ultrafast Lasers for her work with mid-infrared high-repetition-rate ultrafast lasers. This prize was established to honor Bernard J. Couillaud for his extraordinary contributions to physics, lasers and photonics and is funded by Coherent, Inc.

Marvin Edelmann, Harvard University, USA and DESY & University of Hamburg, Germany, received the Gapontsev Prize for Innovations in Fiber Lasers for his work with application-aware adaptive fiber laser platforms for next-generation multiphoton imaging. This prize was established in honor of Valentin Gapontsev’s groundbreaking work and is funded by the VPG Foundation.

Thank You, Editors

We are happy to announce that the following individuals were recently appointed as new editors: JOCN—Katia Shtyrkova, Blue Origin, USA. JOSA A—Sendy Phang, University of Nottingham, UK. JOSA B—Usha Devi, Bangalore University, India; Sanjaya Lohani, Southern Methodist University, USA. Optica—Xiaoying Li, Tianjin University, China (as Deputy Editor); Adrian Mancuso, Diamond Light Source, UK. Optica Quantum—Benjamin McMorran, University of Oregon, USA. Optics Express—Rui-Bo Jin, Hunan Normal University, China; Juanjuan Lu, ShanghaiTech University, China; Uma Maheswari Rajagopalan, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan; Pengfei Wang, Northeast Normal University, China; You Yang, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. Optics Letters—
Ke (Desmond) Wang, RMIT University, Australia.

We would like to thank the following editors for agreeing to serve a second term: Biomedical Optics Express—Sumeet Mahajan, University of Southampton, UK; Daniele Tosi, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan. Optica Quantum—Julien Laurat, Sorbonne Université, France. Optics Express—Aleksandra Foltynowicz, Umeå University, Sweden; Wei Lee, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung Univ, Taiwan; Deyuan Shen, Jiangsu Normal University, China; Li-Guo Zhu, China Academy of Engineering Physics and Nankai University, China. Optics Letters—Matthew Foreman, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Meixiao Shen, Wenzhou Medical University, China.

We would like to thank the following editors, who have recently finished their terms, for their years of service: JOSA A—Arti Agrawal, University of Technology Sydney, Australia. JOCN—Cristina Rottondi, Politecnico di Torino, Italy. Optica—Hugues de Riedmatten, ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences, Spain; Nathalie Picqué, Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Germany (as Deputy Editor). Optical Materials Express—Stavroula Foteinopoulou, University of New Mexico (as Features Editor). Optics Express—Antonio Ambrosio, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy; Terrence Meyer, Purdue University, USA. Photonics Research—Giuseppe D’Aguanno, The Johns Hopkins University-Applied Physics Lab, USA; Yan Feng, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, UCAS, China.