Recent advances in photon avalanche materials are opening a new regime of optical sensing, where small perturbations—including minute mechanical forces—can trigger highly amplified optical responses. In this talk, Dr. Natalie Fardian-Melamed will show how these nonlinear light–matter interactions can be harnessed for remote force detection with exceptional sensitivity and dynamic range. She’ll discuss the physical mechanisms underlying avalanche behavior in lanthanide nanomaterials, and how they enable sensing capabilities that extend beyond conventional linear optics. She’ll also highlight emerging opportunities for translating these effects into next-generation sensing platforms.

Short pulse lasers offer a number of advantages in high-precision machining including a reduced heat-affected zone (HAZ) resulting in little or no additional post processing clean-up work. For X-Y scanning systems, this requires specially designed F theta lens.  The presentation will  cover F theta lens specifications; non and telecentric lens, multispectral F theta lens, the issue of back reflections and internal ghosts when using high power and short pulse lasers, how to calculate spot size relative to input beam diameters, scan field size, mirror spacing, correction files, laser M2 values relative to spot performance, thermal focus shift, anti-reflective coatings and ultra short pulse laser F theta lens color correction using diffractive optical elements.

High-precision laser processing is essential for manufacturing critical components in diverse applications ranging from medical device and electronics production to semiconductor fabrication. 
Because users must manipulate laser beams with high dynamics to facilitate scalable production processes, multi-axis scanner products – including hardware and motion control features – play a key role in these applications. Advancements in these technologies are empowering end-users and machine builders to demonstrate cutting-edge laser processes for drilling, cutting, micromachining and joining.

This presentation will highlight the following:

• Recent developments in scanning hardware and software as they relate to a range of real-world applications that require 2-, 3- and 5-axis laser scanning motion
• A complete systems approach to controlling the scanner and macro part motion with traditional linear and rotary servo motion 
• The benefits of using a single controller architecture for all motion related to the laser process
• Laser process engineers, product designers and manufacturers of precision components leveraging laser processing will learn how these technological developments can enable their applications

Photonics system design increasingly depends on multidisciplinary engineering and co-simulation across multiple physical domains, including photonics, high-speed electronics, RF, electromagnetics, and thermal effects. Although specialized numerical solvers and design tools address each domain individually, bringing device-level models into circuit- and system-level simulations remains challenging. Issues such as model interoperability, computational complexity, and fragmented workflows can reduce design efficiency and make it harder to accurately predict end-to-end system performance.

This session introduces a unified Keysight workflow for modeling and validating advanced technologies from fundamental device physics through complete system operation. The workflow brings together electromagnetic and multiphysics simulation, compact-model generation, photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design, and electrical–optical–electrical (EOE) system simulation.

The session uses a multichannel WDM PAM4 optical link as an application example. It focuses on the design and optimization of photonic devices and components, including modulators, resonators, and filters. It also shows how physics-based simulation results can be converted into reusable compact models. These filter models are then used to implement WDM multiplexers and demultiplexers, which are integrated with electrical PAM4 sources, lasers, optical channels, photodetectors, and receiver circuitry to evaluate end-to-end system performance.

Inertial fusion experiments depend on precise delivery of high-energy laser pulses to achieve target compression and ignition conditions. Accurate measurement of laser energy, stability, and beam characteristics at every stage of the amplification process is essential for ensuring reliable experimental results. This presentation discusses the key challenges of high-energy laser diagnostics, highlights measurement solutions designed for extreme environments, and demonstrates how advanced laser metrology supports the development of fusion energy research.

Optical metasurfaces have driven major advances in imaging, optoelectronics, quantum information, sensing, energy conversion, and optical computing. Dr. Haoran Ren will introduce a multifunctional disordered mosaic metasurface platform, inspired by artistic mosaic patterns. By strategically harnessing structural disorder, we demonstrate a powerful route to dramatically increase metasurface functional density, addressing the longstanding challenge of efficient area utilization. This platform establishes a versatile foundation for compact, high-density, multifunctional photonic devices. He’ll also present their recent metasurface-dressed waveguide circuit for on-chip manipulation of valley information. The valley degree of freedom offers a promising pathway for ultralow-power information processing and quantum technologies, and our demonstration bridges a critical gap in lightwave valleytronics—enabling scalable and integrable valley-based signal processing. He’ll briefly highlight additional applications of metasurfaces in biomedical imaging, wavefront control of quantum emission, and nonlinear and linear angular-momentum holography with increased multi-channel bandwidth.