More than 80 of the world’s leading experts in the field of photonics gathered recently for the Photonics Middle East Conference (PMEC) 2015 hosted by Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMU-Q) and the Qatar Nonlinear Science Initiative.
Photonics is the science of harnessing light and plays a major role in driving economic growth and employment throughout the world. The science is helping to solve important societal challenges in information and consumer technologies, renewable energy, health, manufacturing and security, said Dr Milivoj R Belic, PMEC chair.
Belic said: “PMEC is the first conference on photonics in Qatar and one of the last conferences to celebrate the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies, which was designated by the United Nations General Assembly for the year 2015. We are proud to have hosted this conference to raise Qatar’s visibility and international profile in photonics research, and to produce impact on the status and direction of photonics research in Qatar in general and at Qatar Foundation research institutes in particular.”
PMEC 2015, which featured talks from 30 renowned researchers, was co-organised by the Texas A&M at Qatar Science Programme and the Qatar Nonlinear Science Initiative, and sponsored by the Qatar National Research Fund, US Department of the Navy Science and Technology, Coherent, OptoSigma Europe, Quantel Laser and Qatar Airways.
Dr Mark H Weichold, dean and CEO of TAMU-Q, said: “The nature and characteristics of light have revolutionised nearly every field of science, and we are still only at the threshold of new discovery in this discipline. This conference has provided an important forum to challenge conventional thinking and, in so doing, expand our knowledge and application of light in myriad ways.”
The event was held in conjunction with Ibn Al-Haytham Days organised by Qatar University and held at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University Student Centre. Ibn al-Haytham was a notable 11th-century scientist and scholar who is known as the father of optics. He made extraordinary inventions in the fields of vision, optics and light.
PMEC 2015 and Ibn Al-Haytham Days represent capstone events in celebrating the International Year of Light 2015 and also an important first event in photonics in Qatar’s scientific history.