The Optics + Optoelectronics 2019 Symposium, organized by the international society for optics and photonics SPIE, has become an internationally recognized platform for the exchange and presentation of the latest developments in optics and optoelectronics in the 12 years since its first edition. This year’s meeting took place April 1-4 at the Congress Hotel Clarion in Prague’s Vysočany district.
The symposium, which is one of the largest events in the field of optics and optoelectronics in Central Europe, offered over 800 presentations in 18 parallel conferences. In addition, the programme included a number of events, including workshops, discussions and laboratory tours. One of the highlights of the packed programme was also a series of tutorial and invited lectures at the Optical Fiber Technology Workshop, where representatives of the ÚFE gave lectures, followed by a field trip to the optical fiber laboratories at the detached facility in Prague – Suchdol, where visitors could see the preparation of the so-called preform and then the drawing of optical fiber on the drawing tower. Optical Fiber Technology Workshop was focused on advanced methods of production of optical fibers and optical fiber components. The workshop and excursions to the laboratories were organized in conjunction with the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the start of research into optical fiber technology in the Czech Republic.
Notable guests at the symposium included Gerard Mourou, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics, as well as Mr. Erich Spitz from the French Academy of Sciences, a Czech-born scientist, honorary chairman of the symposium and co-author of the first ever single-mode optical fiber for information transmission. Mr. Erich Spitz accepted our invitation to visit the ÚFE.
This year’s SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics Symposium was attended by more than 900 visitors from dozens of countries.