There is an ever-growing demand for power, whether it is to supply electricity for our power-hungry AI servers or to keep the lights on in more homes. Inertial confinement fusion has been referred to as one of the most promising paths to thermonuclear fusion, and it could one day provide a path to more efficient power. Omar Hurricane and Mike Campbell formed a professional relationship and a lasting friendship through their time together at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In this episode of All Things Photonics, they discuss the progress made in inertial confinement fusion and what this technology will need to reach its full potential.

Photonics industry luminary Jason Eichenholz discusses hollow core fiber (HCF). Eichenholz is co-founder and CEO of Relativity Networks, a Florida-based startup pioneering the development and rollout of this transformative technology. It is hardly Eichenholz’s first such undertaking, and the Spotlight conversation looks back at some of his most consequential and influential projects.

In the lead-up to the European Conference on Optical Connectivity 2025 in Copenhagen, “All Things Photonics” chats with OIF board president Nathan Tracy and board member Mike Klempa. The discussion focuses on the Forum’s agenda for the conference, including a multi-vendor demonstration with 35 members from its partner ecosystem. Current networking and connectivity bottlenecks are also featured in the conversation.

Professor Graham Reed is a pioneer in silicon photonics. In 1989, he founded the Silicon Photonics group at the University of Surrey, and in 2012, Professor Reed brought his team to the University of Southampton as the deputy director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre. Today, he serves as the director of the Cornerstone Photonics Innovation Center, an open-source, license-free silicon photonics prototyping foundry. In this Spotlight conversation, Professor Reed discusses the future of silicon photonics and the role Cornerstone will play in its advancement in the U.K. and around the world.

Photonic technologies are already being used to battle cardiovascular disease, but emerging technologies could further advance the treatment and diagnosis of the world’s leading cause of death. Yuqi Zhou is an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo and the lead author of a study on photonics and cardiovascular health. Sitting down with All Things Photonics, she discusses the potential of these systems and the hurdles they still face.

Mike McKee, undergraduate advisor at the University of Central Florida's College of Optics and Photonics (UCF CREOL), and high school student Griffin Whiteside, a rising sophomore, discuss UCF CREOL’s Laser and Photonics Summer Camp.

We may not all be experts in the field of quantum nonlinear photonics, but we can all appreciate the applications it could advance. Whether it is in medical diagnostics or LIDAR systems, quantum technology has the potential to lead to life-altering breakthroughs. Yannick Salamin is an associate professor of optics at UCF CREOL. His research has focused on the exploration of the quantum properties of light, and now he is reaching out to the next generation to help grow this field of study. In our Spotlight conversation, Salamin gives us a crash course on quantum nonlinear photonics and discusses how his newly formed research group aims to advance it.

Jasper Stackawitz, a rising senior at Pennsbury High School in Pennsylvania and recipient of the 2025 Teddi C. Laurin Scholarship, discusses his path to the world of photonics research, his work with phase change materials, and how we might reach a new generation of photonics professionals.

Garrett Cole, associate professor at the Wyant College of Optical Sciences, has returned to academia after working with famed research labs and turning his own work into a successful startup. His focus today is on using semiconductor materials and processing techniques to make ultra high-performance optics for optical metrology systems. In this spotlight conversation, Cole takes us through his professional journey and shares how he hopes to inspire the next generation of photonics professionals.

Søren Friis, head of sales and business development at NLIR, breaks down the technique of MIR spectroscopy, overviewing technology, applications, and instrumentation. As a key addition to the end user’s toolkit for industrial tasks that strain many familiar methods, MIR spectroscopy may be best explained by its applications. But, Friis explains, innovative system architectures and rising trends also help tell the story.