New York Photonics Manufacturing Initiative Goal: Assist in developing national and regional technology roadmaps for the U.S. photonics industry and laying the groundwork for a national institute dedicated to advancing and diffusing photonics-based manufacturing technologies. Lead: University of Rochester, Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences 260 Hutchison Rd. Rochester, NY14627 Award Number: 70NANB14H054 Federal Funding:...Continue Reading

“The age and size of the Cosmos are written in light. The nature of beauty; the substance of the stars; the laws of space and time – they were there all along, but we never saw them until we devised a more powerful way of seeing. The story of this awakening has many beginnings and no ending.”...Continue Reading

Exelis products deliver data from high above the Earth to the palm of your hand Use your smartphone to find a location, and you’re using technology created in Rochester. Same with those WorldView satellite images helping to guide the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet. Ditto with global weather tracking systems, devices that helped provide security at the Super...Continue Reading

Things were grim for Corning Inc. about a dozen years ago. The telecommunications industry was slumping. The Southern Tier employer posted a $5.5 billion loss, began letting go thousands of workers and its stock took a nose-dive, dropping from $113 to just $1.10. Corning’s multi-year investment in perfecting optical fiber, which accounted for about 70...Continue Reading

 $150,000 grant will fund cutting-edge detection camera WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) announced today that  Rochester-based Sydor Instruments, LLC (Sydor) has been awarded a $150,000 STTR Phase One grant.  The grant will be used to fund development of a Spectro CCD X-Ray Camera for Energy Dispersive Spectrometers.  Sydor’s work to develop the camera will...Continue Reading

Vincent’s first UNIBLITZ® product to be released in 2014 is the bi-stable RS20B shutter system. The shutter’s unique rectangular 20 mm diagonal aperture and blade sets itself apart from the other shutter series within the UNIBLITZ® product line. “The RS20B is our market response to provide a rectangular aperture shutter that is able to cover...Continue Reading

Letter: Slaughter has led on photonics In reference to the Feb. 2 essay by Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (“To fight poverty locally, invest in well-paying jobs”), I applaud the congresswoman’s efforts on behalf of optics and photonics. This is an industry that is highly technical and often not understood by many outside of Rochester, but the...Continue Reading

Tuesday,  March 25th at 7:00 PM Laboratory for Laser Energetics Dr. Mathias Kolle of MIT. Dr. Kolle will discuss Biological and Bio-inspired Photonic Materials. After Dr. Kolle’s talk, Erika Hanson from consulting firm Terrapin Bright Green[terrapinbrightgreen.com] will describe NYSERDA funding for biomimetic R&D. To learn about the biomimicry progam, visit NY-BIG.org[ny-big.org]. Pre-talk dinner: with guest...Continue Reading

SPIE’s Photonics West, arguably the largest photonics conference in the world at 21,000 attendees this year, had representation among its exhibitors of  roughly 18% of the world’s optic and photonics market. That market, estimated at roughly $480 Billion by SPIE, is the foundation for technological advances in manufacturing, metrology, nanotechnology, semiconductors, biomedical instruments, consumer electronics,...Continue Reading