Optical Sensors (Sensors)
Events
Optical Sensors (Sensors)
Optica Sensing Congress
20-24, July 2025
Long Beach, CA, USA
Optical sensors have numerous applications in research and development, national defense and commercial markets such as medical diagnostics and process control.
Because of the breadth of applications for optical sensors, the challenges to the design and functioning of an optical sensor for a particular purpose requires intimate knowledge of optical, material and environmental properties that affect sensor performance across physical scales.
The Sensors meeting addresses all aspects of optical sensors from source and detection technologies, sensor configurations and processing approaches to applications.
The meeting is arranged in broad topic categories and themes accessible to researchers at any career stage. Beyond the topics listed below, Sensors will be exploring focused topics that are considered timely due to a surge in literature or notoriety. This year’s focus is on quantum dot-based sensing/imaging, in honor of the recent Nobel prize in this area and Photonic Integrated Circuit (PICs) due to the surge in capability for these systems.
Essential Links
Technical Program
This congress presents the latest developments in optical sensing and sensors as well as their use in a variety of applications. Of particular note are a number of hot topics being addressed, including agriphotonics, fiber-based sensing, THz sensing, sensing solutions in manufacturing and the latest developments in comb spectroscopy, including fiber lasers and mid-IR sources.
Objectives
- Learn about the latest advances in sensing for the environment, including dual-comb sensing of atmospheric gases, compact LIDAR and hyperspectral sensors.
- Discover relevant techniques for sensing in an industrial environment such as real-time process monitoring on the factory floor, spectroscopic food safety inspection and spectroscopic analysis in harsh environments.
- Understand the latest applications of fiber and nanophotonic sensors for biological and chemical sensing, including the newest wearable sensor technology.
- Investigate novel laboratory spectroscopic techniques and methodologies for disruptive sensing technology, such as novel light sources and detectors, photonic integrated circuit (PIC) sensors and sensing networks.
- Explore the production, detection, and use of THz radiation for metrology and sensing, including comb-source generation and biosensing applications.
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Chairs
Paul Pellegrino
US Army Research Laboratory, USA,
General Chair
Katerina Krebber
Federal Institute for Materials Research, Germany,
Program Chair
Frank Vollmer
University of Exeter, UK,
Program Chair
Filiz Yesilkoy
University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA,
Program Chair
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Committee
Laser Based Sensors Subcommittee
Yoonchan Jeong, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
Subconference Chair
Peter Dragic, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Andrea Fiore, Eindhoven Univ. of Technology, Netherlands
Christian Grillet, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, France
Peter Horak, ORC, Univ. of Southampton, UK
Kwang Jo Lee, Kyung Hee Univ. Republic of Korea
Claudio Otón, Institute of Mechanical Intelligence, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy
Optical Biological and Chemical Sensors Subcommittee
Jennifer Morales, US Army Research Laboratory, USA, Subconference Chair
Tanya Hutter, University of Texas at Austin, USA
Koji Masuda, University of Exeter, UK
Sachin Srivastava, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India
Nikita Toropov, University of Southampton, UK
Peter Zijlstra, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
Optical Fiber Sensors Subcommittee
Ali Masoudi, University of Southampton, UK, Subconference Chair
Xin Lu, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und, Germany
Sonia Martin-Lopez, Universidad de Alcala, Spain
Aldo Minardo, Univ della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Italy
Marcelo Soto, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Chile
Carmen Vazquez, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
Terahertz Sensors Subcommittee
Mira Naftaly, National Physical Laboratory, UK, Subconference Chair
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Topic Categories
Optical Sensors (Sensors)
Sensors addresses all aspects of optical sensors from source and detection technologies, sensor configurations and processing approaches to applications.
Beyond the topics listed below, Sensors will be exploring focused topics that are considered timely due to a surge in literature or notoriety. This year’s focus is on quantum dot-based sensing/imaging, in honor of the recent Nobel prize in this area and Photonic Integrated Circuit (PICs) due to the surge in capability for these systems.
Topics of Interest
- Optical Fiber Sensors
Delves into a diverse range of topics, including the development of novel optical fiber sensor technologies, the design of sensing systems, the exploration of cutting-edge optical materials and the application of such systems in real-world scenarios spanning from structural health monitoring and environmental sensing to healthcare and industrial automation. The focus of the topic will be on point (interferometric, polarimetric, refractometric and grating based), quais-distributed and distributed sensors. Examples include, but are not restricted to, gyro, current, magnetic field, radiation, bio and chemical, strain, temperature, pressure, vibrations, hydrophone arrays, shape sensing, DAS, OTDR and OFDR. - Laser Based Sensors
Based upon direct and indirect detection of laser light interacting with a target object, which inherently allow for non-invasive measurements with high precision and high accuracy as well as fast response. Thus, demands and challenges for laser-based sensors continue to grow in both science and technology. Topics include laser ellipsometry, laser speckle imaging, laser spectroscopy, laser Doppler vibrometry, laser interferometry, laser light detection and ranging and laser-based quantum-enhanced sensing. - Optical Biological and Chemical Sensors
Technologies such as fluorescence, Raman and infrared spectroscopy, fiber optics, silicon photonics, nanophotonics and plasmonics have all found recent application in chemical and biological sensing. These sensors utilize similar scientific principles to tackle a wide variety of detection challenges from multiple disciplines. Applications for these sensors addressing the critical needs in health, environment, food, forensics, safety and security are all a focus of this topic. - Terahertz Sensors
Innovations in source and detector technologies, tailored electromagnetic materials and computational intelligence are making the terahertz spectral region (0.1 - 30 THz) much more accessible for innovative sensing concepts. This topic features contributions in all these areas, with an emphasis on exploring how the terahertz region provides unique capabilities to detect and recognize unique signatures.
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Plenary Speakers
Hidetoshi Katori
The University of Tokyo, Japan
From High Precision to Innovation: Optical Lattice Clocks for Future Applications
Optica Distinguished Lecture Series on Quantum Science and Technology
Optical lattice clocks achieve 18-digit accuracy, enabling chronometric leveling and paving the way for redefining the second. Advances in compact clock designs, long-distance clock comparisons and continuous interrogation techniques will facilitate their real-world implementation.
About the Speaker
Hidetoshi Katori, born 27 September 1964, is a Japanese physicist and professor at the University of Tokyo best known for having invented the magic wavelength technique for ultra-precise optical lattice atomic clocks. Since 2011, Katori is also Chief Scientist at the Quantum Metrology Lab, RIKEN.
Recently, Katori's group performed a measurement of gravitational redshift with two transportable strontium optical lattice clocks over nearly the entire height of the Tokyo Skytree, setting a new record for the best ground-based test of general relativity.
Florian Schreck
University of Amsterdam
Continuous Bose-Einstein Condensation and Optical Clocks
Continuous instead of pulsed operation of optical clocks promises a hundred-fold increased measurement bandwidth. On our path to this goal, we achieved continuous Bose-Einstein condensation [Nature 606, 683 (2022)] and build continuously operating optical clocks.
About the Speaker
Prof. Florian Schreck (University of Amsterdam) works on quantum sensors and simulators based on ultracold strontium gases. His research group recently achieved continuous Bose-Einstein condensation, a great starting point for future continuous atom lasers that could be useful for atom interferometry. Using techniques created for that work, his group is developing a new generation of optical clocks, continuously operating superradiant and zero-deadtime clocks. Other projects include the study of ultracold RbSr molecules and quantum simulations using arrays of Rydberg-coupled single Sr atoms. He coordinates the Quantum Delta NL Ultracold Quantum Sensing Testbed and the EU’s AQuRA transportable optical clock project. He is CEO of OpticsFoundry, which has the mission to make optical circuits for quantum devices easy to design, procure and operate.
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Invited Speakers
Optical Sensors (Sensors)
- Francesco Dell Olio, Politecnico di Bari, Italy
- Jakub Dostalek, FZU - Institute of Physics of the Czech, Austria
- René Eisermann, Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany
- Reuven Gordon, University of Victoria, Canada
- Tanya Hutter, The University of Texas at Austin, United States
Precision Sensing: Next-Gen Mid-IR Fiber Probe Sensors - Ge Jin, Colorado School of Mines, United States
Subsurface Hydraulic Fracture Characterization using Distributed Acoustic Sensing - Christian Petrie, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, United States
- Anton Saetchnikov, Ruhr Universitat Bochum, Germany
- Salvador Sales, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
- Miguel Soriano-Amat, RISE-ACREO, Spain
- Joel Villatoro, Universidad del Pais Vasco, Spain
- Zhisheng Yang, Beijing University of Posts & Telecom, China
- Luigi Zeni, Univ della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Italy
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Industry Program
The Industry Program will address disruptive projects and applications as a result of talent drain and transformative processes.
During the 2025 Industry Program, topics discussed at Toulouse 2024 will be expanded, and new topics will be added. However, the program is only the tip of the iceberg for interested attendees. These sessions encourage dialogue, vision, know-how and guidance.
This content model was enthusiastically received by the 500 participants at Toulouse 2024.
Background
We will focus on news, challenges, applications, opportunities and scalability in emerging technologies on a system or component level.
Johannes Kunsch, the Optica Sensing Congress Industry Chair answers the question: What is specific to the Optica Sensing Congress? It is not only a look at the science behind the talks, but also the networking and work-ready inspiration.
Objectives
The goal of the Industry Program is to pave the road toward substantial future growth and give orientation. There is great momentum in the optical sensing industry. This momentum should continue to grow and make optical sensing a preferred career path. The industry team decided to focus mostly on Infrared Photonic Circuits and Biomedical Infrared Spectroscopy and highlights the role of AI.
Chairs
Johannes Kunsch
Laser Components Germany GmbH, Germany,
Industry Chair
Borislav Hinkov
Silicon Austria Labs GmbH, Austria,
Industry Co-Chair
Committee
Johannes Kunsch, LASER COMPONENTS Germany GmbH, Germany, General Chair
Borislav Hinkov, Silicon Austria Labs, Austria, Co-Chair
Amber Czajkowski, Alluxa Inc., USA, Co-Chair
Shankar Baliga, LASER COMPONENTS Detector Group Inc., USA
Kurt Hochrein, Dexter Research Center, USA
Timothy Olsen, Omega Optical, USA
Industry Session I
Wednesday, 23 July 16:00 - 17:00
Speakers
Johannes Kunsch, LASER COMPONENTS Germany GmbH, Germany
Tarek Eissa, LMU München, Germany
Mihaela Zigman, LMU München, Germany
Mehdi Asghari, SiLC Technologies, USA
Borislav Hinkov, Silicon Austria Labs, Austria
Matthias Budden, Wired Sense, Germany
Ryszard Piramidowicz, VIGO Photonics, Poland
Mircea Guina, Tampereen Teknillinen Yliopisto, Finland
Werner Mäntele, DiaMonTech AG, Germany
Industry Session II
Thursday, 24 July 10:00 - 11:00
Speakers
Tarek Eissa, LMU München, Germany
Mihaela Zigman, LMU München, Germany
Matthias Budden, Wired Sense, Germany
Mircea Guina, Tampereen Teknillinen Yliopisto, Finland
Werner Mäntele, DiaMonTech AG, Germany
