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Nadya Anscombe talks to Stephen Eglash of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University in the USA about his vision for the green photonics sector.

Belgian research institute imec is uniquely capable of manufacturing both polymer and small-molecule organic photovoltaic technology.Nadya Anscombetalks to Tom Aernouts, team leader of the organic photovoltaic division at imec, about these competing technologies.

Oxford Photovoltaics is the newest contender in the race to commercialize dye-sensitized solar cells. Nadya Anscombe finds out what makes this company think it can succeed.

Swiss company Synova is commercializing an innovative materials processing technique that uses a water-guided laser beam to allow 'cold laser cutting'. Nadya Anscombe talks to the company's chief technical advisor, Alexandre Pauchard, to find out more.

Attosecond spectroscopy promises real-time observation of the motion of electrons inside atoms. Nadya Anscombe talks to Ferenc Krausz from the Max-Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich in Germany about the technology.

Nadya Anscombe talks to Wolfgang Osten, director of the Institute for Applied Optics, about the challenges that optical metrology faces in keeping pace with demands from industry.

Fibre-optic sensors have been around for many years, but their market penetration has been slow. Nadya Anscombe talks to Brian Culshaw of Strathclyde University in the UK to find out why.

Andreas Stingl, CEO of Austrian company Femtolasers, talks to Nadya Anscombe about the market for femtosecond lasers and their wide variety of applications.

Chalcogenide glasses are attracting significant attention thanks to their mid-infrared transparency and highly nonlinear properties. Nadya Anscombe talks to Dan Hewak from the University of Southampton in the UK.

The photonic sensors market is a diverse and fragmented one. David Krohn, chair of the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association's Photonic Sensor Consortium, tells Nadya Anscombe that the difference between success and failure often depends on understanding your market.

The organic photonics industry has come of age in the past few years. Nadya Anscombe speaks to Marc Baldo from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, about the advances that have been made and the challenges that remain.

Although the machine vision industry is being affected by the global recession, Mats Gökstorp, president of the European Machine Vision Association, explains to Nadya Anscombe why he is optimistic about the industry's future.

John Warlaumont, vice president of advanced technologies at SEMATECH, a consortium of the world's chip manufacturers, talks to Nadya Anscombe about the future of optical lithography.

Adaptive optics has a huge range of applications. Nadya Anscombe talks to Robert Tyson, associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in the USA, to find out his views on its future.

Nadya Anscombe talks to Charles Townes, Nobel Prize winner and inventor of the maser, the forerunner to the laser, to find out how the invention of the laser came about and how he struggled to convince people of its importance.

Nadya Anscombe talks to David Bunzel, president of the Optical Storage Technology Association, about the aftermath of the Blu-ray/high-definition-DVD format war and future technologies in the optical data-storage market

Larry Coldren from the University of California at Santa Barbara, USA, speaks to Nadya Anscombe about recent progress in the performance of semiconductor light sources.

The photovoltaics industry is growing fast, but it still needs to bring down costs before it can reach its true potential. Nadya Anscombe talks to Winfried Hoffmann, president of the European Photovoltaics Industry Association, to find out more.

Many of the advances in fibre-laser technology are thanks to work by Andreas Tünnermann, now head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering in Jena, Germany. Nadya Anscombe spoke to him about developments in the area and his views on its future.

The popularity and demand for data-rich wireless communication is driving the deployment of radio-over-fibre technology and the success of the firms such as Zinwave, reports Nadya Anscombe.

Researchers in Germany have set up a company to manufacture custom-made optics for ultrafast applications. Nadya Anscombe finds out about the company's products and its plans for the future.

From humble beginnings, the Belgian company Xenics has grown to become one of the world's leading suppliers of short-wave infrared cameras outside the US. Nadya Anscombe finds out how the company has survived the economic crisis by changing its business strategy and continually developing its products.

The concentrator photovoltaics market is becoming increasingly crowded. Nadya Anscombe finds out what makes German company Concentrix Solar stand out from the crowd.

The idea behind quantum-dot lasers has been around for a long time, but only recently has the field made headway in developing robust commercial products. Nadya Anscombe spoke to German firm Innolume to find out why they believe the technology will take off.

Over the past ten years, Crystal Fiber, now part of NKT Photonics, has been busy commercializing photonic crystal fibre. Nadya Anscombe finds out about the evolution of the technology and its applications.

Start-up company Nanoscribe has developed table-top systems that can write intricate 3D structures not possible through other lithographic technologies. Nadya Anscombe finds out how the company was founded and what its plans are for the future.

Eighteen months ago a massive fire ripped through the Optoelectronics Research Centre at Southampton University in the UK. Nadya Anscombe talks to David Payne about the lessons learned and the future of one of the world's largest photonics research groups.

The International Space Station will soon be using fibre-optic communication technology for the first time, and products from US start-up company Space Photonics are helping to make this possible. Nadya Anscombe spoke to the company's CEO, Chuck Chalfant, to find out more.

In Britain, organizations award 'chartered status', which claims to validate a scientist's professional credentials. But what are such designations really worth? Nadya Anscombe reports.

The initial concept of the laser was pioneered at Bell Labs, as were many other technologies that are fundamental to the photonics industry. Nadya Anscombe finds out how the company has changed in recent years and what technologies are being researched at Bell Labs today.

Developing new sensor technology requires knowledge from every area of science and engineering. Nadya Anscombe finds out how this is done at the National Centre for Sensor Research in Ireland.

When AOptix Technologies was set up in 2000 to exploit adaptive optics in laser communications systems, its future looked bright. But, as Nadya Anscombe finds out, the company has had to adapt to changes in the market and find new applications for its technology.