NRC Releases Update to Harnessing Light: Optical Science and Engineering for the 21st Century

The National Research Council of the National Academies released a new report in August updating the 1998 "Harnessing Light" study. The report, called "Harnessing Light: Capitalizing on Optical Science Trends and Challenges for Future Research", was supported by funding from DARPA, NSF, NIST, ARO, DOE, AFOSR, NRC, OSA and SPIE.

Since the 1998 report, enormous progress has been made in the areas of optical technologies for solid-state lighting, advanced manufacturing, energy, fiber-optic telecommunications, defense, health and medicine, advanced photonic measurements and applications, and information technology. The new report assesses the current state of optics and photonics from a market perspective, prioritizes a set of grand challenges to address technological gaps, and recommends actions for future development. Chapters 2, 6, and 8 are of particular interest to the biophotonics community.

The report was released at the SPIE Optics and Photonics meeting on August 15, 2012, in San Diego, CA.  For more information and a link to a report summary and the full report, go to www.opticsandphotonics.org.