Report on OPTICS & PHOTONICS International Congress 2016 (OPIC2016)
Yoshiaki KATO1 and Yasukazu IZAWA2
1 Chair of OPIC2016 Organizing Committee, The Graduate School for the Creation of New PhotonicsIndustries, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 431-1202
2 Chair of OPIC2016 Steering Committee,Institute for Laser Technology, 1-8-4 Utsubo-honmachi, Nishi-ku,

Osaka, 550-0004

1. Introduction
OPTICS & PHOTONICS International Congress (OPIC) has been held annually since 2012
at Yokohama as an international forum to present and discuss the most up-dated R & D
activities in optics and photonics over the world. The state-of-art technologies and products inoptics and photonics are exhibited at the co-located and jointly organized OPIE (OPTICS &PHOTONICS International Exhibition).
OPIC2016 was held during May 17-20, 2016 at Pacifico Yokohama Congress Center withCongress Co-Chairs: Kenichi Iga (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan), Andreas Ostendorf(Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany) and Christopher P. J. Barty (Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, USA) (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Congress Co-Chairs of OPIC2016:
Kenichi Iga, Andreas Ostendorf, and Christopher P. J. Barty (from left to right)
OPIC2016 was organized by OPTICS and PHOTONICS International Council, with thesupport of five Ministries of Japanese Government and Japan Business Foundation, and incooperation with many research institutes and academic societies in Japan and foreigncountries, as shown in Table 1.
OPIC is composed of Specialized International Conferences covering broad-ranged fields
in optics and photonics. One of the unique features of OPIC is that each conference is “handmade”, i.e. each Specialized International Conference is planned and operated by theConference Chair and his consortium of scientists, based on their own initiatives to strengthenand advance the research and network in each specific field. This approach helps Conference
Chairs to organize attractive conferences with timely topics and up-dated speakers, and also
to broaden the research networks by continuing to hold the conferences over several years.

1Table 1 Organization of OPIC2016
OPTICS & PHOTONICS International Congress 2016 (OPIC2016)
Co-located with OPTICS & PHOTONICS International Exhibition 2016 (OPIE2016)
Organized by OPTICS & PHOTONICS International Council
Specialized International Conferences were Organized by
The Laser Society of Japan / The Japan Society of Applied Physics / Institute of Laser
Engineering, Osaka University / Akasaki Research Center (ARC), Nagoya University / Japan
Laser Processing Society / The Micro Solid-Sate Photonics Group of The Laser Society ofJapan / The Executive Committee of Laser Solution for Space and the Earth / RIKEN
SPring-8 Center / Research Center for Ultra-Precision Science & Technology, OsakaUniversity
Supporting agencies for OPIC2016
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) / Ministry ofEconomy, Trade and Industry (METI) /Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries ofJapan (MAFF) / Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) / Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) / Keidanren (Japan Business Federation)
Cooperating agencies for OPIC2016
The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) / New Energyand Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) / Japan Science andTechnologyAgency (JST) / The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) / RIKEN / AtomicEnergy Society of Japan (AESJ) / The Japan Society of Plasma Science and Nuclear Fusion
Research (JSPF)/ The Optical Society of Japan / Optoelectronic Industry and Technology
Development Association (OITDA) / Institute for Laser Technology (ILT) / Japan Photonics
Council (JPC) / SPIE (USA) / OSA (USA) / Landesmesse Stuttgart GmbH (Germany) / PIDA(Taiwan) / KAPID (Korea) / Photonics Media (USA)

2. OPIC2016 with record high participants
OPIC2016 was composed of 11 Specialized International Conferences, the largest number
since the beginning of OPIC, owing to joining of 2 new Conferences: Laser Solution for Spaceand the Earth (LSSE) and International Conference on X-ray Optics, Detectors, Sources, andTheir Applications (XOPT). These 11 Specialized International Conferences and theConference Chairs are shown below.
■ The 5th Advanced Lasers and Photon Sources (ALPS ’16)
Chair: H. Yoneda (The University of Electro-Communications)■ Biomedical Imaging and Sensing Conference 2016 (BISC ’16)
Chair: T. Yatagai (Utsunomiya University)■ Conference on Laser Energy Science (CLES 2016)
Chair: H. Azechi (Osaka University)■ International Conference on High Energy Density Science 2016 (HEDS2016)
Chair: R. Kodama (Osaka University)2

■ The 4th International Conference on Light-Emitting Devices and Their Industrial
Applications (LEDIA ’16)
Chair: H. Amano (Nagoya University)■ The 4th Laser Ignition Conference 2016 (LIC '16)
Chair: T. Taira (Institute for Molecular Science)■ Laser Solution for Space and the Earth (LSSE2016)
Chair: T. Ebisuzaki (RIKEN)■ The 3rd Optical Manipulation Conference (OMC '16)
Chair: T. Omatsu (Chiba University)■ The 5th Pacific-rim Laser Damage Conference (PLD '16)
Chairs: T. Jitsuno (Osaka University), Jianda Shao (SIOM) and W. Rudolph (Universityof New Mexico)■ The 2nd Smart Laser Processing Conference (SLPC2016)
Chairs: Y. Okamoto (Okayama University) and R. Poprawe (Fraunhofer ILT)
■ International Conference on X-ray Optics, Detectors, Sources, and their Applications 2016
(XOPT ’16)
Chairs: T. Ishikawa(RIKEN) and K. Yamauchi(Osaka University)
The overall schedule of OPIC2016 is shown in Fig. 2. The Specialized International
Conferences were held in parallel during May 17-20, with exception of Joint Sessions in theafternoon of May 18. The Posters were presented at the Exhibition Hall in order to stimulateinteraction between OPIC and OPIE participants. The OPIC Plenary Session, open to public,and OPIC Reception were held in the morning and evening of May 18, respectively.

Fig. 2 Overall schedule of OPIC2016.

3

Table 2 Records of OPIC and Specialized Conferences during 2012-2016.
(Specialized Conferences held previously and at other countries are shown in italics.)
YearOPIC2012

OPIC2013

Date

April 25-27

April 23-26

April 22-25

Ap ril 22-24

M ay 17-20

K. Shimoda
R. ByerK. IgaR. Byer
A. Ost endorf

K. IgaC. BartyA. Ostendorf

K. IgaC. Barty
A. Ostendorf

Congress Chairs

K. Shimoda
R. ByerNumber of Specialized Conferences

OPIC2014

OPIC2015

OPIC2016

61097

Papers presented

296

411

570

478

736

ParticipantsForeign participants (%)

519
24%

677
18%

782
27%

732
25%

1028
32%

Participants / Conference

86.5

67.7

86.9

104.6

93.5

2323282631

Specialize d International C onfe rences

Conf. Chair

Conf. Chair

Conf. Chair

ALPS (Advanced Lasers and Photon Sources)

K. Midorikawa K. Midorikawa F. Kannari

Number of Countries

SeTBio (Sens. Tech. for Biomater., Food, & Agri.)Conf. Chair

Conf. Chair

N. Miyanaga

H. Yoneda

N. Kondo

BISC (Biomedical Imaging & Sensing Conf.)

T . Yatagai

APBP (Asian & Pacific-Rim Symp. Biophoton.)

T . Yatagai
T . Iwai

CLSM (Conference of Laser Surgery and Medicine 2012)M. Kikuchi
CIFE (Conf. on Inertial Fusion Energy)

11

M. Kikuchi

H. Azechi

LANSA (Laser & Accler. Neutron Sourc. & Appli.)

H. Azechi

LSC (Laser $ Synch. Rad. Com bin. Exper.)H. Azechi

CLE (Conf. on Laser Energetics)

H. Azechi

CLES (Conf. on Laser Energy Science)

H. Azechi

HEDS (Int. Conf. on High Energy Densit y Sci.)

R. Kodama

R. Kodama

R. Kodama

R. Kodama

LDC (Laser Display & Lighting Conf.)

K. Kuroda

K. Kuroda(in Taiwan)

K. Kuroda(in Germ any)

LEDIA (Conf. on LED & Its Indust . Appl.)

H. Amano

H. Amano

H. Amano

H. Amano

LIC (Laser Ignition Conf.)

T . T airaT . T airaLANE (Laser Appl. on Nuclear Engin.)

H. Horiike(in US)LSSE (Laser Solution for Space & Earth)

T . T airaT . Ebisuzaki

OMC (Optical Manipulation Conf.)

T . Omatsu

PLD (Int. Conf. on Pacific-Rim Laser Damage)
LPCC (Laser Proc. for CFRP & Com pos. Mater.)

R. KodamaT . Jitsuno
M. Kutsuna

SLPC (Smart Laser Process. Conf.)

T . Omatsu

T . Omat su(in China)

T . Jitsuno,
J. Shao,
W. Rudolpf

H. Ogata
Y. Okamot o

XOPT (Int. Conf. X-ray Opt., Det., Sourc. & Appl.)

Y. Okamoto,
R. Poprawe
T . Ishikawa,
K. Yamauchi

Records of OPIC and Specialized International Conferences during 2012-2016 aresummarized in Table 2. Some of the Specialized Conferences have been organized withdifferent titles by the same or related communities and some Conferences were held at othercountries for convenience to participants, as shown in italics in Table 2.
Table 2 shows that OPIC has been growing steadily as seen, for example, from thenumber of participants and the number of participants per conference. Accelerating thistrend, OPIC2016 was held with record high numbers in specialized conferences (11), papers
presented (737), participants (1028), fraction of foreign participants (32 %), and participating
countries (31). The top 10 countries, in order of the number of participants (shown inparentheses), are Japan (700), China (67), USA (50), Taiwan (48), Korea (37), Germany (27),France (25), UK (18), Russia (11) and Australia (6). (Here “country” refers to the place where4

participant’s affiliation is located.) These statistics show that OPIC is becoming aninternational forum with broad scientific scopes, attended by well-balanced international
communities in Asia, north America, Europe and Russia. Some of the Specialized
Conferences that have been held continuously over several years are now firm-footed withrepeated attendance of many participants who are looking forward to discussing the mostupdated progress of their fields at OPIC.
The co-located OPIE2016, composed of 7 Exhibitions, was held during May 18-20 byparticipation of 335 companies and organizations, including direct overseas exhibitions by 8countries and 44 companies. Total number of the participants to OPIE2016 over 3 days was15,132. Various activities were organized during OPIE including technical exhibitions,product demonstrations, and technical seminars. Also the Award Ceremony of the 2016
Industrial Award by The Laser Society of Japan was held at the Exhibition Hall, and awards
were presented in 3 categories to 7 companies.
3.

OPIC2016 Plenary and Reception

OPIC Plenary Session was held in the morning of May 18. At the beginning of this Session,
A. Ostendorf, Congress Chair, has expressed condolence to Professor Wolfgang Sandner for his
sudden passing away on December 5, 2015. Prof. Sandner, Director General of ELI DC, wasscheduled to present a plenary talk at OPIC2016. Welcome to OPIC2016 was given by Sadao
Nakai and Reinhart Poprawe, representing the International Advisory Board.

Fig. 3 Plenary speakers of OPIC2016:
Mitsuru Sugawara, Hideo Hosono, Masanori Iye and Georg Korn (from left to right)
5Four plenary talks by excellent speakers were presented at this Plenary Session (Fig. 3).
Mitsuru Sugawara, President of QD Laser, Inc., presented the first talk titled “Retinal Imaging
Laser Eyewear: From Low Vision Aids to Smart Glass”. Retinal imaging is a new scheme of asmart glass, where retina is used as a screen of a miniature projector with the RGB quantum
dot lasers as the light sources and a MEMS mirror for beam scanning. Some of the ongoingstudies in Japan and Europe including low-vision aids and navigation surgery were presented.
The second plenary was presented by Hideo Hosono, Director of Material Research Centerof Element Strategy, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and recipient of the Japan Prize in 2016.
With the title of “Cultivation of Electro-Active Functionality in Transparent Oxides”, Prof.
Hosono, sometimes called alchemist of the present age, has reviewed his exploration ofsemiconducting functionality in transparent oxides, covering transparent amorphous oxide
semiconductors and their TFT application, iron-based superconductors, and electro-activefunction utilizing abundant elements.
Masanori Iye, Vice-chair and the Japan representative of the TMT InternationalObservatory, presented a talk titled “The Thirty Meter Telescope Project”. With this 30-metertelescope, which is constructed by an international consortium of Japan, USA, Canada, China
and India, he has shown that various discoveries will be obtained in many fields in astronomy
and astrophysics, including the early history of the Universe, extra-solar planets, dark matterand dark energy, and active galactic nuclei.
The fourth plenary talk was presented by Georg Korn, Science and Technology Manager ofthe ELI Beamlines in Prague, titled “Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI): The CERN of Laser
Research”. The ELI project comprises 3 pillars: ELI-Beamlines in Czech Republic, ELI-ALPS,
the attosecond laboratory in Hungary, and ELI-NP, the photo-nuclear laboratory in Romania.
The 4-th pillar for extreme high field science is to be determined in future. It is expected thatELI-ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium) will be established in 2018 tomanage and operate these facilities within the central governance framework. Dr. Korn haspresented the ELI framework and the up-dated progress at the ELI-Beamlines.
The OPIC Plenary has been highly evaluated in previous years due to broad coverage ofimportant and up-dated subjects with excellent speakers. In OPIC2016, plenary presentationfrom the industry (QD Laser, Inc.) was included for the first time. With this new addition, theOPIC plenary became even more attractive, covering broader scopes on science, technology
and real-world applications.

Fig. 4 OPIC2016 Reception. Greetings by S. Nakai, T. Baer and T. Yatagai, and toast by G.
Mourou and S. Bulanov (from left to right).
The OPIC Reception was started by Sadao Nakai, Chair of the International Advisory Board,
followed by the greetings by the representatives of OSA (Thomas M. Baer, President in 2009)6and SPIE (Toyohiko Yatagai, President in 2015). Drinks were toasted by Gerard Mourou (EcolePolytechnique, France) and Sergei Bulanov (QST, Japan), leading to very active interactions
among the participants (Fig. 4).
4. Acknowledgement
We are indebted to Prof. Kenichi Iga, Dr. Christopher P. J. Barty, and Prof. Andreas
Ostendorf as Congress Co-Chairs, members of the International Advisory Board, Organizing
Committee and Steering Committee, and Chairs of the Specialized International Conferences,for organizing OPIC2016. We would like to thank MEXT, METI, MAFF, MHLW, MLIT andKeidanren for supporting OPIC2016.
We would like to thank the financial supports from the following organizations: Research
Foundation for the Electrotechnology of Chubu, Tateisi Science and Technology Foundation,
Tsurugi-Photonics Foundation, Nippon Sheet Glass Foundation for Materials Science andEngineering, Support Center for Advanced Telecommunications Technology Research,
Foundation, and Konica Minolta Science and Technology Foundation.
Also we would like to thank the following corporate sponsors for their generous supports:
OPTO SCIENCE, INC., HAMAMATSU, Inc., Japan Laser Corporation, THORLABS, OPHIR,KATAOKA Corp., OKAMOTO OPTICS WORKS, Inc., and CHINESE LASER PRESS.
Partnerships with SPIE as the International Partner and PHOTONICS MEDIA andOPTORNICS as the Media Partners are also greatly appreciated.

7