Aldas Juronis, CEO of EKSPLA, discusses key parameters in the design and manufacture of industrial laser systems in this final episode before the start of Laser World of Photonics 2025. EKSPLA’s direct refrigerant cooling system highlights the company’s capabilities in delivering highly repeatable systems while pushing the bounds of performance and innovation. Additional talking points include emerging applications, application drivers, designing for OEMs, and Lithuania’s dynamic laser ecosystem.

A group of bipartisan lawmakers formed the Optics and Photonics Caucus back in 2020. At that time, the U.S., along with the rest of the world, was grappling with the pandemic and the disruptions to the supply chain it created. The legislators on that committee hoped to use this new platform to address America’s reliance on Eastern nations and boost the domestic production of photonic goods.

Editor’s Note: The team at "All Things Photonics" reached out to Morelle’s Republican counterpart, Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, to take part in the conversation. Mast and his team did not follow up with us for this podcast.

Time travel is not just theoretical, it’s proven. But that doesn’t mean we are anywhere close to a functioning time machine just yet. Professor Ron Mallett has been fascinated with the idea of time travel since he was a little boy. A year after his father passed away, he discovered a Classics Illustrated edition of H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine.” That comic sparked the imagination of 10-year-old Mallett, convincing him to pursue a career in science and to learn more about controlling the clocks. Decades later, he believes he has cracked the code on time travel. It just requires circular lasers and some cosmic intervention. On this episode, Mallett shares with us the science behind his theories, what it will take to traverse the past and present, and which Hollywood movies actually got time travel right.

Free space optical communication could offer high speed connectivity without the need of optical fibers. That's where groups like Attochron come in. They are actively working to develop the next generation of light waves for free space optical communications. Using short coherence length optical sources, including ultrashort pulsed lasers, they believe they have found a way to overcome the hurdles holding these systems back from hitting the mainstream. On this episode, we are joined by Tom Chaffee, founder and CEO of Attochron, Jim Olson, senior VP of sales and marketing, and Wayne H. Knox, professor of Optics at the University of Rochester and consultant at Attochron.  Some materials referenced by our guest could be found on our YouTube channel.

No one can be sure how this current trade war between the U.S. and China will end. But we’re feeling its impacts every day. While no person or business can escape the effects of this volatile market, semiconductor manufacturers have a unique challenge to deal with. Not only must they handle rising costs and taxes, but they also must figure out how to advance forward facing export restrictions from China. Rare earths vital in the production of semiconductors come primarily from China, but new controls will limit American companies’ access to those materials. In this Spotlight, we talk with TECHCET CEO and Founder, Lita Shon-Roy, to learn more about the origins of this trade war, how it impacts the semiconductor industry, and what it will take to bring this chapter of turmoil to a close.

Additive manufacturing garners considerable attention — but the methods and underlying technology often take a back seat to the remarkable designs and properties of finished works. Lukas Hoppe, R&D director at Meltio, offers insights into the current laser-based additive manufacturing ecosystem. Hoppe discusses Meltio’s blue laser innovations as well as wire-laser metal 3D printing methodology.

Graphene’s recent and ongoing ascent into commercial applications and consumer devices is the focus of our conversation with Andy MacInnes, chief development officer at Paragraf. The Cambridge, England-based developer of graphene-enabled sensors offers custom foundry services, placing it in a distinct location on the semiconductor manufacturing value chain.

Dr. Frank Winkler, at Heidelberg University focuses on the emerging field of cancer neuroscience, and the way brain cancers proceed. Winkler has used two-photon imaging to confirm that glioma cells link through microtubes, similar to typical neurons in the brain. His groundbreaking work has earned him the 2025 Brain Prize by the Lundbeck Foundation, alongside Dr. Michelle Monje. And in this spotlight conversation, Winkler discusses the journey he and Dr. Monje took to arrive at their conclusions, and how the shape of cancer research, particularly under the umbrella of neuroscience, is changing.

Spotlight from "All Things Photonics"® is a special series of intimate sit-down conversations with preeminent figures in our industry.

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Martin Richardson, director of the University of Central Florida’s Center for Directed Energy, joins us to discuss the progression of directed energy technology, from historic uses to its emergence in today’s battlefields, and where we might see it in the future. The conversation covers the multidisciplinary nature of the technology, its challenges, and potential use cases beyond the battlefield, and beyond the planet.

Iñigo Artundo, CEO of photonic test and design house VLC Photonics, breaks down the function of test as it relates to PICs and integrated photonics. How developers advance chip and wafer architectures through the design stage and toward productization cannot happen without adequate testing. But the sophistication of current and future designs does not always align with established test protocols. This episode explores that dynamic and discusses how the gap can be bridged.