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Focus: Photonics West Positive industry outlook expressed at Photonics West
Greg Blackman reports on the state of the photonics market from the Photonics West show, which took place in San Francisco from 1 to 6 February
A
n optimistic outlook for 2014 and beyond, with medical and life sciences especially robust, was the overriding opinion of a panel of executives at Photonics West. The fourth quarter of 2013 was described as particularly strong by the panel, which was made up of executives from Daylight Solutions, Excelitas, Idex, Jenoptik, Newport, Optimax, and Trumpf. The automotive and semiconductor sectors both showed growth, but the market for photonics within scientific research was less healthy, especially in the US where federal budget sequestration has restricted funding. However, Rick Plympton, CEO of Optimax, pointed out that sequestration may not necessarily be a bad thing – as research on older technologies is cut, freeing up money for photonics.
Aerospace and microelectronics were also noted as two areas that contracted in 2013, but in general there was optimism. ‘I see opportunity; I see growth,’ said Jerry Jurkiewicz, president, optics and photonics at Idex. Life sciences, optical sensing, (the sensing capabilities of mobile devices are predicted to increase significantly in the coming years), and ultrafast lasers were all mentioned as being areas where the companies would be investing. The semiconductor market was also highlighted
by Jurkiewicz as an area of investment over the next five years, although he warned that the cyclical nature of semicon had to be taken into consideration. Trumpf is now involved in the semiconductor market, announcing developments in CO2
laser amplifier technology for EUV
lithography earlier last year. The company was exhibiting a model of the machine on its booth.
4 ELECTRO OPTICS l MARCH 2014
Trumpf has also bought a majority stake in Chinese machine tool producer JFY CNC Machine Company. Christof Lehner, general manager, North America at Trumpf, described China as a huge market for photonics companies, which was echoed by other members of the panel. Dennis Werth, senior VP, Photonics Group at Newport, said he would be investing in the USA, simply because of its history and because of companies such as Google and Apple. Technology on display at the show ranged from Flir’s new thermal imaging device for the iPhone 5, to Imec’s hyperspectral image sensor technology, to ultrafast lasers from Newport. Edmund Optics had a number of its partners on its booth, including Australian company Ocular Robotics, showing scanning imaging systems, and Indian company Forus Health, which uses Edmund’s optical components in its low-cost device for screening for eye ailments. Hamamatsu was demonstrating how visitors could control the speed of a toy Scalextric car by the power of their minds. The device, attached to the forehead, is powered by infrared emitters and photodiodes developed by Hamamatsu, which detect the levels of oxygen used by the brain. The harder you think, the more oxygen the brain uses, which causes the car to accelerate. Having this
device strapped to my head and told to ‘think’ seemed a ludicrously abstract concept, so it was satisfying to watch as the car accelerated on the track in response to my thoughts. The difficult bit came when I was told to ‘stop thinking’. Photonics has been described as ‘electronics,
‘ The combined revenue from the 1,008 exhibitors surveyed was $84 billion for 2012’
20 years ago’, in terms of its potential. However, awareness of photonics remains relatively low. Photonics21 president Michael Mertin stated that photonics needs to be explained in simpler terms for it to get on the political agenda. Photonics West was the ideal place to get an understanding of the potential of photonics technologies – Tim Day, CEO of Daylight Solutions, noted during the executive panel discussion that the likes of Google and Apple send employees to Photonics West for the courses relating to semiconductor production such as silicon photonics. And, according to Stephen Anderson, industry and marketing strategist
at SPIE, more than 18 per cent of the world’s photonics business was at the show – the combined revenue from the 1,008 exhibitors surveyed was $84 billion for 2012, around 18 per cent of the 2012 global photonics market, which Anderson quoted as $480 billion. The show also drew a record 21,360 attendees, which is an encouraging sign for the industry.
@electrooptics |
www.electrooptics.com
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