Photonex 2018
Featuring more than 90 exhibitors and 120 expert talks, Photonex connects the supply chain with the UK’s photonics user communities in industry and research.
The event features a comprehensive technical conference and exhibition spanning biophotonics, lasers for research and advanced manufacturing, sensors and camera systems, imaging, communications and optoelectronics, plus the core optical components.
Buoyant photonics sector convenes
By Laurence Devereux, CEO of Xmark Media, organisers of Photonex Europe
Photonex Europe brings the whole supply chain together under one roof: supplier companies, consultants, industrial users, researchers, science groups and innovative newcomers.
One of the themes this year is ‘wonderful things can happen when people get together’, through which the organisers are pushing how valuable it is to spend time at an exhibition and conference. It makes real conversations, real interactive discussions possible.
The exhibition boasts more than 80 companies at the forefront of science and innovation, spanning advanced manufacturing systems, cameras, comms, components, fibre optics, imaging, lasers, metrology, optoelectronics, sensors and spectroscopy.
There is no doubt that the photonics industry is buoyant; exhibitors are reporting two strong years of growth, sustained by the plethora of new applications coming to the fore, and growth is set to continue. For example, components for lidar, showcased by Hamamatsu at the show, will become a multi-million business in years to come as every car in the future is likely to be fitted with five or more cameras. Several exhibitors report a strong business in supplying integrators, system developers and instrument builders, and that many new companies are popping up as photonics technologies are added into systems and being developed for new applications.
In the world of fibre optics, at the show there will be examples of components and fibres for communications, laser light delivery and sensors. Several companies are exhibiting motion control; one application is for alignment of fibre optics, others are for beamline experiments and industrial laser micromachining systems.
With a stellar line-up of speakers, the supporting Enlighten Conference offers numerous insights into photonics applications. Visitors can choose from high-level programmes covering additive manufacturing, biophotonics and biomedical microscopy, hyperspectral imaging, laser safety, and much more.
Delegates to the Biophotonics and Biomedical Microscopy meeting, in which Professor Melissa Mather from the University of Nottingham is keynote speaker, will be able to take time out in the exhibition to review scientific cameras – CCD, CMOS and sCMOS; hyperspectral and thermal imaging – and advanced microscopy solutions including lightsheet and confocal.
The HSI 2018 hyperspectral imaging and applications conference is a biennial two-day conference, and readers are encouraged to visit the website to learn more about the keynote speakers: Dr Gonzalo Arce, University of Delaware, USA; Dr John Kerekes, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA; and Sander de Jonge, Quest Medical Imaging, The Netherlands.
One new subject covered in the conference this year is BSI standards. The organiser’s introduction reads: ‘A lot of people think standards are just for big companies because they're complex, expensive tools. Nothing could be further from the truth.’ So come to the conference and learn more about optics and photonics BSI standards.
This introduction to the show only touches upon the wide potential and uses of photonics and what will be on display. The clear message of the event is that photonics is an enabling technology for solving a vast diversity of applications.
Photonex Europe is firmly established as the primary meeting place for photonics in the UK. With such an exciting new programme, this year’s event promises the best opportunities yet.