{"id":36796,"date":"2026-07-22T12:02:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/vice-nez-400-odborniku-z-celeho-sveta-se-setkalo-v-praze-na-konferenci-icton-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T11:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T09:34:31","slug":"more-than-400-experts-from-around-the-world-gathered-in-prague-for-the-icton-2026-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/en\/more-than-400-experts-from-around-the-world-gathered-in-prague-for-the-icton-2026-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 400 experts from around the world gathered in Prague for the ICTON 2026 conference"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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For more than a quarter of a century, ICTON<\/a> has been one of Europe\u2019s leading professional conferences focused on transparent optical networks, photonics, and laser technology. In addition to the main conference, this year\u2019s event also featured specialized workshops on topics such as quantum communications, photonic integrated circuits, free-space optical communications, fiber lasers, machine learning in optical communications, and technologies for future 6G networks.<\/p>

Opening Plenary Session<\/h3>

Richard \u0160vejkar opened the plenary sessions with his presentation titled \u201cPushing the Limits: Recent Achievements and Power Scaling of 2 \u00b5m Fiber Lasers,\u201d which also served as an excellent preview of the LasApp workshop. Reinhard Caspary of Leibniz University Hannover is currently perhaps the foremost expert in the field of Jud-Offelt analysis, one of the fundamental tools for rare-earth element spectroscopy. In his lecture, he presented new tools for this analysis, made possible by advances in computing technology. Quantum technologies have applications in many areas of technology, including communications, and the final lecture on this topic, \u201cProgress toward a scalable and integrated Quantum Communication Infrastructure,\u201d was delivered by Giuseppe Vallone from the Universit\u00e0 di Padova.<\/p>

Workshop LasApp<\/h3>

Another key part of the program was a workshop on the LasApp project – Breakthrough Laser Technologies for Smart Manufacturing, Space, and Bio-Tech Applications (www.lasapp.cz<\/a>) – organized as part of the project of the same name, which is co-funded by the European Union. During the Tuesday and Wednesday sessions, the workshop focused on current developments in laser technologies and their use in industrial applications, space technologies, and biomedicine. The LasApp workshop brought a number of renowned experts from leading European research institutions and universities to Prague. Invited lectures were delivered by leading specialists in fiber lasers, ultrafast laser physics, laser material processing, and photonic technologies for space and biomedical applications. Their presentations highlighted the latest trends in the development of laser systems and their practical applications. The workshop also made a significant contribution to presenting the results of the LasApp project and to establishing new international partnerships.<\/p>

Social Events<\/h3>

The professional program was complemented by a series of social events that provided opportunities for informal discussions and the establishment of new international collaborations. Participants gathered for a welcome reception at the Diplomat Hotel, admired the panoramic view of Prague from the roof of the National Agricultural Museum, and attended a gala conference dinner at the Art Restaurant of the M\u00e1nes Association of Visual Artists. The cultural program culminated with a concert by the Prague Academy Chamber Orchestra (KOA) at the Minorite Monastery of St. James, where the solo violin part was brilliantly performed by the conference\u2019s honorary chair, Prof. Ji\u0159\u00ed \u010ctyrok\u00fd, and Tereza Cachov\u00e1. You can view the concert program here<\/a>.<\/p>

In its early days, ICTON was primarily a platform for presenting the results of joint European research projects. It has gradually evolved into one of Europe\u2019s leading conferences in the fields of optical communications, lasers, and photonics. ICTON\u2019s focus on joint projects is traditionally reflected in its emphasis on informal networking. As a co-organizer, the Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Czech Academy of Sciences had the opportunity not only to present the results of its research but also to strengthen ties with leading international research institutions. We are pleased that this year\u2019s event received a broad positive response and reaffirmed its reputation as one of the most significant European events in photonics.<\/p>

Full Conference Program<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Photo: Zuzana Havl\u00ednov\u00e1, Petra Pale\u010dkov\u00e1, Dita B\u0159ezinov\u00e1<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From July 12\u201316, 2026, the 26th annual ICTON – International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks – was held at the Diplomat Hotel in Prague, co-organized by the Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Telecommunications (Poland). More than 400 participants from academia and industry traveled to the Czech capital, where, over the course of five days, they shared the latest findings in the fields of photonics, lasers, optical communication networks, and related technologies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":36750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36796"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36796"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36807,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36796\/revisions\/36807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ufe.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}