Asia Photonics Symposium

Asia Photonics Symposium
Name	Asia Photonics Symposium
Status	Active
Discipline	Photonics
Frequency	Annual
Country	Various (Asia)
First	2007
Organizer	Organizing Committees, academic societies, industry partners

Asia Photonics Symposium

The Asia Photonics Symposium is an annual scientific and industrial conference focused on photonics technologies, optoelectronics, and optical communications. The symposium convenes researchers, engineers, and corporate representatives from institutions such as Tsinghua University, National University of Singapore, KAIST, University of Tokyo, and companies including Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics, Huawei, and Nokia. It serves as a forum for presenting peer-reviewed papers, keynote lectures, and exhibitions that bridge advances from laboratories like Rudolf Mössbauer Institute and Riken to commercialization efforts at Applied Materials and ASML.

Overview

The symposium emphasizes cross-cutting topics spanning silicon photonics, quantum optics, nonlinear optics, fiber optics, laser technology, and integrated photonic circuits. Participants include delegates from research centers such as Optical Society of America (OSA) chapters, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Photonics Society members, and representatives from national laboratories like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and National Institute of Standards and Technology. The program typically features plenary talks, technical sessions, poster sessions, and an exhibition hall where vendors such as Keysight Technologies, Thorlabs, and Newport Corporation demonstrate instrumentation.

History and development

The symposium originated in the mid-2000s amid regional initiatives to strengthen semiconductor and photonics capabilities across East and Southeast Asia, influenced by institutions including National Science Foundation (United States), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and funding programs from Ministry of Education (Taiwan). Early meetings attracted academics from Peking University, Seoul National University, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, as well as industry R&D teams from Ericsson, Fujitsu, and Toshiba. Over time, the event expanded to include special sessions co-organized with international conferences such as CLEO and Photonics West and collaborations with standards bodies like International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

Conference organization and program

The organizing structure typically comprises an international program committee with members from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Cambridge University, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and regional universities such as Indian Institute of Science and University of Malaya. Submission procedures mirror practices used by SPIE and IEEE Photonics Conference, requiring peer review and abstract selection. The program often includes keynote addresses from leaders at Google Research, Microsoft Research, and IBM Research, panel discussions involving policymakers from ministries like Ministry of Science and Technology (China) and technical workshops led by consortia such as Photonics21.

Technical topics and themes

Recurring technical themes address advances in optical fiber communications, coherent optical transmission, wavelength-division multiplexing, photonic integrated circuits, microresonators, heterogeneous integration, plasmonics, metamaterials, optical sensing, biophotonics, and LIDAR systems. Sessions often cover device physics validated by labs such as Bell Labs and Nokia Bell Labs, algorithmic co-design approaches from DARPA-funded research, and measurement methodologies promoted by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) committees. Emerging topics include applications in autonomous vehicles (industry trials by Tesla and Toyota), quantum communication prototypes by teams connected to University of Science and Technology of China and University of Oxford, and manufacturing scale-up lessons from fabs like TSMC.

Notable speakers and awardees

Keynote and invited speakers have included faculty and researchers affiliated with John B. Goodenough-related materials science groups, Nobel laureates associated with Nobel Prize in Physics work on lasers, and industrial leaders from Ciena Corporation, Juniper Networks, and Broadcom Inc.. Award programs at the symposium have recognized contributions by individuals from RMIT University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, and innovators linked to standards such as IEEE 802.3 and ITU-T G.709. Honorary lectures frequently feature investigators who have published in Nature Photonics, Physical Review Letters, and Optica (journal).

Industry participation and exhibitors

Exhibitors range from component suppliers like II-VI Incorporated and LG Innotek to test-and-measurement vendors Anritsu and Rohde & Schwarz, and foundry service providers such as GlobalFoundries and UMC. Startup showcases highlight companies spun out from incubators at Tsinghua University Science Park, Singapore Science Park, and innovation hubs like Shenzhen Hi-Tech Industrial Park, with investors from SoftBank and Sequoia Capital attending. Corporate presence supports technology transfer efforts and matchmaking between research groups at Max Planck Society and commercialization partners.

Impact and collaborations

The symposium has fostered collaborative projects among institutions including A*STAR, CSIRO, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, and Hanyang University, contributing to regional roadmaps for photonics workforce development influenced by initiatives such as Horizon 2020 and national innovation plans. Outcomes include joint publications in journals like IEEE Photonics Technology Letters and coordination of multi-institution testbeds resembling efforts at Lightwave Research Laboratory and Photonics Research Centre (PRC). The event supports cross-border partnerships that accelerate deployment of optical networks by operators like China Mobile and NTT Communications and advances in sensors adopted by manufacturers including Foxconn.

Category:Photonics conferences