Program
Event overview
The Optica Optics Manufacturing Industry Summit brings together the companies designing, manufacturing, testing and deploying precision optics for the world’s most demanding applications: defense, space, and advanced sensing.
In 2027 the Summit moves to Tucson, one of the deepest optics-and-defense clusters in the country, and puts defense at the center of the program rather than treating it as one industry among several. The agenda follows the optics value chain from design through manufacturing, metrology, and materials, then anchors it in a defense end-user panel where primes, government laboratories, and space agencies state directly what they need from the supply chain, what they cannot yet source, and how long qualification really takes.
The timing matters. As the U.S. defense and space sectors push to rebuild domestic precision-optics capacity and reduce single points of failure abroad, the questions of supply chain resilience, trade compliance, and workforce pipeline have moved from side conversation to headline topic. This Summit puts them on the agenda directly, with a dedicated session built around exactly that.
Program at a glance
- Day 0, Monday, March 15: welcome dinner, downtown Tucson (venue TBC).
- Day 1, Tuesday, March 16: design under constraint; rebuilding domestic manufacturing capacity; metrology and MIL-STD qualification; defense end-user panel.
- Day 2, Wednesday, March 17: materials and coatings for harsh environments; emerging platforms; supply chain, trade compliance and workforce. Close at 1:50 PM, ahead of afternoon flights.
Please Note: Event agenda is subject to change as Speakers are confirmed
Monday, March 15, 2027
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Start Time |
Event |
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6:00 PM |
Optional Welcome Dinner hosted by Optica We invite you to join us for dinner and networking in downtown Tucson the night before the Summit. Meet other industry leaders in a relaxed setting before the program begins. Venue to be confirmed. |
Tuesday, March 16, 2027
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All scheduled events, except the Dinner Reception, are at the Pima Community College Downtown Campus, 1255 N. Stone Ave., Tucson, AZ 85709. |
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Time |
Events & Presenters |
Affiliations & Program Notes |
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8:00 – 9:00 AM |
Registration and Coffee |
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9:00 – 9:30 AM |
Welcome Remarks
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9:30 – 10:00 AM |
Opening Keynote |
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Session 1: Design Under Constraint — From Rays to Waves in Ruggedized Systems
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Optical design has moved from ray tracing to wave-based methods. This session asks what happens when those tools meet defense requirements: thermal shock, vibration, radiation, ITAR-restricted collaboration, and a design-for-manufacture loop that has to close inside a U.S. supply chain. Speakers cover multiphysics and stray-light design for EO/IR payloads, meta-optical and diffractive design flows, and how Tucson’s design houses work with primes. |
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| Time | Events & Presenters | Affiliations & Program Notes |
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10:00 – 10:45 AM |
Speakers |
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10:45 – 11:15 AM |
Networking Break |
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Session 2: Manufacturing Across Scales — Rebuilding Domestic Precision-Optics Capacity
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Grinding, polishing, molding, replication and wafer-level processes, framed by the question primes and the Department of Defense are asking: can the U.S. supply chain deliver precision optics at volume, on time, without single points of failure abroad? Presentations from the largest U.S. merchant optics manufacturers cover capacity investment, automation, workforce, and where wafer-level and replicated optics can substitute for conventional fabrication. European suppliers show what transfers across the Atlantic and what does not. |
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11:15 AM – 12:45 PM |
Speakers |
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12:45 – 2:00 PM |
Lunch |
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2:00 – 2:30 PM |
Keynote |
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Session 3: Metrology and Qualification — From Surface Figure to MIL-STD
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Interferometry, wavefront and MTF measurement, alignment and environmental test as the gate between an optic and a fielded system. The session connects surface and functional metrology, then adds what defense qualification demands: traceability, ITAR-compliant test facilities, testing across the infrared, and the metrology needed to accept meta-optics and wafer-level parts into programs written for bulk optics. Tucson’s metrology cluster is on stage. |
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2:30 – 3:30 PM |
Speakers |
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3:30 – 4:00 PM |
Networking Break |
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4:00 – 4:30 PM |
Keynote |
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Session 4: End-User Panel — EO/IR, Directed Energy and Space: What Primes Need from the Optics Supply Chain
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Primes and integrators from the U.S. and Europe state what they buy, what they cannot source, what they qualify and how long it takes. Topics include infrared materials and coatings availability, high-energy laser optics, lightweight space telescopes, second sources, lead times, and whether nanostructured optics have a path into programs of record. Moderated as a panel with short position statements and no slides. |
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4:30 – 5:40 PM |
Panel Discussion |
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5:40 – 6:10 PM |
Keynote |
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6:10 – 6:20 PM |
Wrap-up of Day 1 |
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6:30 – 9:00 PM |
Dinner Reception Venue to be confirmed. |
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Wednesday, March 17, 2027
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All scheduled events are at the Pima Community College Downtown Campus, 1255 N. Stone Ave., Tucson, AZ 85709. |
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| Time | Events & Presenters | Affiliations & Program Notes |
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8:30 – 9:00 AM |
Welcome Coffee |
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9:00 – 9:10 AM |
Welcome Remarks |
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9:10 – 9:40 AM |
Keynote |
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Session 5: Materials and Coatings for Harsh Environments
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Coatings and structured surfaces, with the emphasis on what fielded systems need: infrared glasses and chalcogenides sourced domestically, high-laser-damage-threshold coatings for directed energy, durable AR and polarization control for airborne and space platforms, and nanostructured alternatives to multilayer stacks. This is the materials supply chain behind the demand set out in Session 4. |
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9:40 – 10:40 AM |
Speakers |
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10:40 – 11:10 AM |
Networking Break |
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Session 6: Emerging Platforms — Waveguides, Meta-Optics, DOEs and Lidar for the Field and for Orbit
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The platforms that only exist because of nano-structuring and wafer-level processes. Corning covered AR waveguides, meta-lenses and diffractive elements for consumer and sensing markets; Tucson asks which of them are ready for helmet-mounted displays, seekers, lidar, laser communications and small satellites, and what the qualification gap looks like. Includes replication and nanoimprint as the route from prototype to volume. |
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| Time | Events & Presenters | Affiliations & Program Notes |
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11:10 AM – 12:20 PM |
Speakers |
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| 12:20 - 12:50 PM | Keynote | |
Session 7: Panel: Supply Chain, Trade Compliance and Workforce
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Export control, ITAR and the CHIPS-style incentives now being discussed for optics; second-sourcing across allied countries; and the technician and engineer pipeline, with Tucson's community college and university as the local case. Short statements from suppliers on both sides of the Atlantic and one European prime, then open discussion with the room. |
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| Time | Events & Presenters | Affiliations & Program Notes |
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12:50 – 1:40 PM |
Speakers |
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| 1:40 - 1:50 PM |
Closing Remarks |
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