PhAST 2006

CLEO/QELS & PhAST 2006 once again reiterated their roles as the leading events for the fields of lasers, electro-optics and photonics. With more than 1,500 talks on the latest breakthroughs in research and applications, these conferences are the source of the most timely and innovative new developments for the industry.

Consistent with previous year's shows, attendance reached 5,200. Technical attendance was strong at more than 2,500 and exhibit walk-in traffic remained steady with 2005.

The CLEO exhibition showcased 358 participating companies this year, with almost a 100 percent increase in corporate sponsor participation. The show really is an international must-attend event, with approximately 25% of companies coming from outside the United States.

There also were exciting new programs and topics introduced at the 2006 event. The PhAST conference established the PhAST/Laser Focus World Innovation Award which recognizes a company who has developed one of the most promising new products in the field. This year, Daylight Solutions won for its submission, "Commercializing the Mid-IR" and four honorable mentions were given to Thorlabs, Sacher Lasertechnik, Fianium and PolarOnyx. CLEO also launched the Terahertz Technologies and Applications subcommittee, a new topic area developed due to a consistent increase in papers in this area over the last few meetings.

CLEO/QELS and PhAST had a great year in 2006. We're looking forward to seeing you in Baltimore, May 6-11, 2007.