Lighting the Path to a ComPetitive,SeCure Futurea White PaPer by the nationaL PhotoniCS initiativemay 23, 2013

National Photonics Initiative · www.lightourfuture.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING ............................................................... 5

COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY .......... 10

DEFENSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY ................................................ 15

ENERGY ........................................................................................................... 19

HEALTH AND MEDICINE ........................................................................ 25

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... 30

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INTRODUCTION

Look around you — your phone, computer, TV — all are modern-day technologies made

possible by photonics.

Optics and photonics are the science and application of light. Specifically, photonics

generates, controls and detects light to advance robotics, manufacturing, medical imaging,

next-generation displays, defense technologies, biometric security, image processing,

communications, astronomy, and much more. Photonics forms the backbone of the

Internet; guides energy exploration; and keeps our men and women in uniform safe with

night vision, GPS, and physiological feedback on the battlefield. Simply put, photonics

addresses and solves the challenges of a modern world while enhancing our quality of life;

improving our health, safety and security; and driving economic growth, job creation, and

global competiveness.

In 1998, the National Research Council (NRC) released a report, “Harnessing Light,” which

presented a comprehensive overview of the potential impact of optics and photonics on

major sectors of the US economy. In response, several nations around the world moved to

advance their already strong optics and photonics industries: in 2011, Germany committed

nearly €1 billion ($1.3 billion in USD) to photonics R&D over 10 years; China began funding

several programs targeting photonics supply chains; and, the European Commission, as

part of its new Horizon 2020 program, has directed €1.6 billion (over $2 billion in USD) to

photonics-related R&D over the next seven years.

Historically the United States has been the world leader in deploying photonics research to

power cutting-edge technologies, but global competition has put at risk this leadership

position, which is causing a substantial loss of global market share to overseas competitors

as well as thousands of US jobs.

In 2012, the NRC released an update to “Harnessing Light” that reviewed the substantial

progress made in the optics and photonics fields, and the council called for a National

Photonics Initiative (NPI) to identify and further advance areas of photonics critical to

regaining US competitiveness and maintaining national security. Heeding the call, more

than 100 experts from industry, academia, and government collaborated to assemble

recommendations to help guide US funding and investment in five key photonics-driven

fields:

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

Advanced manufacturing is vital for the economic well-being of the country; it is a

sector in which substantial job growth is possible. Though the majority of display

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and photonics component manufacturing has moved overseas, the United States can

be a leader in new and innovative areas of manufacturing involving a new

generation of high-power and low-cost ultrashort pulsed lasers, as well as additive

manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. Additive manufacturing allows machines

to make a range of customized products directly from electronically transmitted

designs, saving costly material in the process. These advanced printers, which US

President Barack Obama called the future of manufacturing, can create objects

ranging from prosthetic limbs and functional human tissue to jet engine parts and

shoes. While the United States may struggle to compete successfully in high-volume,

labor-intensive, low-cost manufacturing, our nation can be a strong competitor in

custom, precision and high added-value manufacturing.

COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

The next time you send an e-mail, Skype with your family or post on Twitter,

remember that without photonics, the Internet as we know it would not exist. Optics

and photonics increased the capacity of the Internet by nearly 10,000-fold over the

past two decades. Bandwidth demand is expected to grow another 100-fold, and

possibly more, over the next 10 to 20 years. Without improvements to address the

cost, power consumption, data rate and size, demand will outstrip capacity, which

may lead to higher costs and possibly even constrain the greater US and global

economy. Those countries that invest in solving these challenges will gain a sizeable

national security advantage by advancing the infrastructure that enables our

Internet-based economy.

DEFENSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY

Optics and photonics greatly enhance the United States’ ability to gather

intelligence, defend its citizens and protect its troops in the field. Optical sensing

technology makes surveillance and reconnaissance possible and it identifies

chemical, biological and nuclear threats to the homeland. Photonics makes laser-

guided weapons more accurate, provides lasers for critical missile defense

capabilities and permits personalized use of flexible display technology, which

allows our men and women in uniform to remain informed and safe during

operations with night vision, GPS and physiological feedback. Coordinated

investment and associated technology development in remote sensing, photonic

integrated circuit manufacturing, advanced lasers and cybersecurity will ensure

future military and economic security.

ENERGY

Photonics increases the efficiency and safety of US energy production and

consumption. The renewable energy sector is an area of potentially significant job

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growth and a space in which photonics research can help lower US energy

consumption and reduce our reliance on foreign oil, thus strengthening national

security and revitalize the US economy. Renewable energy technologies are

especially attractive since most energy sources depend on fossil fuels, a limited

resource that can be dangerous to extract and harmful to the environment. The oil

and gas industry, for example, increasingly uses optical systems to monitor wells,

thereby increasing production and mitigating risks. Additionally, solid-state lighting,

such as LEDs, developed through photonics research, could cut US lighting

electricity usage in half by 2030, an annual energy savings of $30 billion and a

reduction of emissions equivalent to 40 million cars. Global demand for new energy

sources represents a significant growth opportunity for US manufacturers and

producers. US companies will need continued research and development

investments and structural support to lead the world into a clean, secure, efficient

energy future.

HEALTH AND MEDICINE

From laser eye surgery to MRIs, photonics is responsible for medical advances that

save and dramatically improve millions of US lives. Photonics plays a key role in

next-generation health care, both in enhancing the ability to observe and measure

symptoms and the capability to treat patients earlier with less invasive, more cost-

effective methods. Photonics-based health care tools offer sensitivity, precision,

speed, and accuracy, which enable rapid diagnosis and effective therapy — key

ingredients for high-quality, cost-effective care. Further investment in biophotonics

will result in smaller, more portable, automated, point-of-care diagnostic devices

that have the potential to improve outcomes and the ability to reach patients who,

because of location, income or other factors, lack access to health care.

New opportunities in these five fields — including solar power, high-efficiency lighting,

genome mapping, high-tech manufacturing, nuclear threat identification, cancer detection

and new optical capabilities vital to supporting the Internet’s growth — offer the potential

for even greater societal impact in the next few decades. Further, they offer a tremendous

opportunity for US job creation. Historically, the United States has done well at investing in

basic research but recently has fallen behind in investing in manufacturing science and

technology. As a result, and for associated reasons, research is occurring domestically while

manufacturing and those jobs supported by this industry have migrated overseas.

Greater investment in manufacturing science and technology will ensure that US

investment in R&D remains in the United States.

Directing resources to position the US as a leader in both research and manufacturing

science and technology will create jobs and benefit the economy. Coordination among

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academia, industry and government labs will be the key to minimizing gaps between

available jobs and trained workers. For example, President Obama announced in 2012 a

military-to-civilian certification program. The initiative will enable up to 126,000 service

members to obtain civilian credentials and certifications in a number of high-demand

industries and will do so by joining with organizations such as the Society of Manufacturing

Engineers. Including laser processing technology programs such as laser repair and laser

welding into this initiative will ensure that new jobs created in the five key photonics fields

are staffed by trained workers.

In order to capitalize on these opportunities, regain global leadership and economic

prosperity, and retain a workforce ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow, the NPI

recommends that the United States government:

Drive funding and investment in areas of photonics critical to maintaining US

competitiveness and national security — advanced manufacturing, defense,

energy, health and medicine, information technology, and communications;

Develop federal programs that encourage greater collaboration between US

industry, academia, and government labs to better support the research and

development of next-generation photonics technologies;

Increase investment in education and job training programs to reduce the

shortage of technically skilled workers needed to fill the growing number of

photonics-based positions;

Expand federal investments supporting university and industry collaborative

research to develop new manufacturing methods that incorporate photonics such

as additive manufacturing and ultrashort-pulse laser material processing; and

Collaborate with US industry to review international trade practices impeding

free and fair trade and the current US criteria restricting the sale of certain photonic

technologies overseas.

The sections that follow are summaries of reports prepared by academic and industry

experts. The summaries provide a deeper assessment of opportunities for the US

government in the five key photonics-driven fields, as well as industry-specific

recommendations that, if followed, will reposition the United States as a leader in these

market sectors.

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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

Apple’s consumer electronic products, Intel’s processing chips, Caterpillar’s machinery,

Ford’s automobiles, and General Electric’s aircraft engines and lighting products all have

something in common — they all realized a competitive advantage of photonics-based

manufacturing. The use of photonics technologies in advanced manufacturing has

improved key factors of products such as size, weight, performance, and cost and is a

driving force behind the revitalization of manufacturing in the United States. In fact, in

2010, a $1.3 billion investment in lasers for airplane and automobile manufacturing

translated to $500 billion revenues for those two industriesi. Strategic investment in the

development of next-generation photonics manufacturing technology will help the United

States secure a strong manufacturing future by increasing its industrial competitiveness in

the global market.

Laser Tools

As one of the most versatile machine tools of the 21st century, high-power lasers are used

by heavy industry to cut, weld, mark, surface treat, and finely process nearly any

conceivable material. From drilling holes in aircraft engine blades to welding sterile

medical package for pacemakers, lasers are efficient, cost-effective, and produce the

highest-quality products.

Lasers and photonics devices are essential to quality control, solutions for metrology, and

high-speed robotic vision that enables high-throughput “pick-and-place” automation in

factories and other production facilities. Lasers also play a crucial role in additive

manufacturing and the printing of circuits on data chips. In addition, the electronics

industry uses lasers to repair memory circuits and high-resolution displays, to wire

integrated circuits, and to fabricate LEDs and solar panels.

High-power diode lasers and fiber lasers are compact, reliable, affordable, efficient, and are

being adopted rapidly by manufacturing. These “practical lasers” offer increased precision,

reduce scrap materials, and can replace tools that wear, all of which improve the bottom

line for manufacturers. As a result, a growing portion of the millions of US workers

involved in making fabricated metal parts today are using laser tools; additional training

and education is needed to ensure that our manufacturing workforce has the skills needed

to keep up with this technology.

In the automotive industry, high-tensile strength materials, such as hot-formed

components, are in global demand because they reduce weight and manufacturing costs

while increasing fuel economy and passenger safety. Laser cutting has proven to be the

only economically viable solution to making hot-formed automotive parts, which are

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formed from lightweight, hardened steel that is almost impossible to cut without

deformation using traditional machining tools. Since implementation, the use of lasers has

reduced the cutting cycle times for these parts by a factor of two, increasing production to

nearly 100 parts per hour and decreasing processing costs to below $1.25 per piece. This

translates to energy savings of more than 100 kW hours during the production process.

With car production rates at 165,000 cars per day, the opportunity for continued growth in

this sector is endlessii.

Unfortunately, US dominance in optics and photonics manufacturing is slipping away. The

Netherlands and Japan are home to companies that manufacture the laser-based

equipment used in the production of most of the world’s data chips and the UK recently

funded an Additive Manufacturing Center, Laser Based Production Processes Center, and

an Advanced Metrology Center. Foreign dominance in this field is largely fueled by

government investment. For example, the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in

Aachen, Germany, had 56 percent of its 2011 operational revenue supplied by European

governments (predominantly Germany)iii; the Chinese government is currently funding five

National Laser Technology Research Centers; and Europe’s new Horizon 2020 program

includes nearly $1.6 billion for programs in photonics and microelectronics and

nanoelectronics and components. In many ways, the situation today is such that innovative,

small- to medium-sized companies in the United States are competing against foreign

nationsiv. It is critical that the United States makes investments in these emerging

technologies to enable our companies to compete in the global marketplace.

The United States must continue to innovate in laser design and laser application, and

develop a deeper understanding of laser and material interactions. A leading tool for

advanced manufacturing is the industrial grade, high-power, ultra- short pulsed laser. This

technology is initiating a new revolution in manufacturing processes by enabling even

greater levels of accuracy. Increased investment in ultra-short-pulsed lasers for U.S.

manufacturing will ultimately reduce manufacturing costs.

Recommendation: Invest in the development and production of high-power laser

technology and systems to advance manufacturing in the United States.

Recommendation: Invest in a coordinated national effort to improve our

understanding of laser-material interaction for applications in heavy industry and

manufacturing for material processing of metals, ceramics, plastics, composites and

glass.

Additive Manufacturing

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Additive manufacturing, including laser sintering and 3D printing, is a process in which

three-dimensional objects of virtually any shape or size can be produced from digital

models through a layering process enabled by lasers. The result is a significant reduction in

waste compared to traditional processes during which material is removed from a block to

create a part. Furthermore, additive manufacturing allows for fabrication of many parts not

feasible through other methods. Sustained growth in additive manufacturing will require a

deeper understanding of laser-material interactions along with higher-resolution

technology to build increasingly complex parts or to repair high-cost parts such as turbine

blades.

Recommendation: Invest in adopting higher-resolution technology for additive

manufacturing.

Public-Private Partnership

To better address the needs for technology development, we must find ways to bring

industry, academia and government labs together to support leading-edge development

and dissemination of new technologies and processes. The German Fraunhofer model for

advancing applied research is frequently cited as a successful partnership between

industry and government, as 30 percent of the funding comes from government grants and

the other 70 percent comes from contract work for industry and government projects. The

Fraunhofer model also has strong ties to academia through university fellowships and

direct channels to educators.

Often, universities have the equipment and capability needed for innovation, but lack

connection to real-world problems or opportunities where the innovations could be

applied. There is a need for the creation of applied research and development institutions

dedicated to photonics that would unite academia with industry and national labs in

existing and emerging regional industrial hubs across the United States. Photonic institutes

located within regional industrial hubs would provide natural ecosystems for innovation

and matching private funding. These institutes could also provide facilities to support

educational and retraining activities. A significant opportunity to bring together and

support public-private partnerships is the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation

(NNMI), a concept introduced by President Obama that seeks to establish regional hubs to

accelerate development and adoption of cutting-edge manufacturing technologies for

making new, globally competitive products. Photonics technology should be explicitly

included in the NNMI institutes because of its broad role in supporting advancement across

all sectors of manufacturing.

Recommendation: Create applied research and development institutions funded

by public-private investment dedicated to photonics manufacturing innovations

that are driven by industry needs.

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Education and Workforce

A well-trained manufacturing workforce is essential to regaining and maintaining US

leadership in advanced manufacturing. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

(STEM) education should include a photonics curriculum in high school and two-year

institutions. Photonics-related engineering education programs are also needed with a

focus on interdisciplinary programs that bring mechanical engineering and materials

science together with optics and photonics curricula.

To create the workforce that is necessary to support and grow photonics-based advanced

manufacturing, we should coordinate existing programs across all levels of education from

secondary public school systems through community colleges and universities, along with

re-training programs. Some examples of these programs include the Department of

Defense-backed Dayton STEM Center, which distributes STEM curriculum and reaches

more than 100,000 students; the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technology

Education programs, including the National Center for Optics and Photonics Education (OP-

TEC), which is engaged in developing technician training programs; the US Department of

Labor’s $2 billion in grants to community colleges and universities for the development

and expansion of innovation-related training programs; and President Obama’s military-to-

civilian certification program. Connecting the needs of the photonics industry with these

programs will help to reduce the shortage of technically trained workers.

Bringing together academia with industry and government labs will also foster necessary

internship and apprenticeship opportunities to train students before they enter the

workforce. Currently, these types of training opportunities are limited in the US, forcing

students to obtain work visas to train overseas. While the US should strive to develop more

internship and apprenticeship programs at home staffed by instructors familiar with this

fast-paced field, the availability of more visas for overseas training would be a short-term

solution. Without this training, the US workforce will lack the skills to compete with the

global market. Funding for a six month or a yearlong training program at leading U.S. user

companies and at centers in Europe could help close the current education gap.

Recommendation: Develop two-year certificate and undergraduate degree

programs in design and laser materials processing.

Recommendation: Incorporate photonics technician training and certificate

programs into existing education and retraining programs such as those for

veterans.

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i T. Baer and F. Schlachter, “Lasers in Science and Industry: A report to OSTP on the contribution of lasers to American jobs and the American economy,” http://www.laserfest.org/lasers/baer-schlachter.pdf, August 4, 2010. ii Prima Power, Session HPFL-5, “6th International Symposium High-Power Fiber Lasers and Their Applications,”

June 2012. iii Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology, Annual Report, 2011.

iv T. Skordas, “Horizon 2020,” SPIE Professional, http://spie.org/x86631.xml, April 2012.

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COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Almost all data we receive today from cell phones, cable TV, the Internet, radio and print is

encoded, disseminated, and received using lasers, fiber optics, and optical detectors.

Netflix streaming, iTunes downloads, YouTube viewing (with 72 hours of new video

content added every minutei), Google searches, stock trades, flight plan data, and even

mobile phone traffic are all transmitted over fiber optic equipment. Simply put, photonics is

the key enabling technology behind the IT and telecom industry, a $4.7 trillion global

market accounting for more than 6 percent of the total world GDPii.

Over the past 30 years, innovations in optics, electronics and optical systems engineering

increased performance and dramatically reduced communications costs. The sharply

lower costs drove, and were driven by, exponential increases in telecom traffic: North

American telecommunication capacity grew 100 times over the last decade aloneiii.

Demand for more bandwidth is expected to continue, fed by new applications in fixed and

mobile computing. The GreenTouch Consortium, an industry organization formed to

improve energy efficiency in communications systems, forecasts continued growth in

demand for traffic of 40 percent per yeariv.

Despite impressive technical advances that fueled the exponential growth in data traffic,

companies are seeking innovative new solutions to meet the continuing growth in demand.

Without improvements to address the critical pain points of cost, power consumption, data

rate and size, demand will outstrip capacity, which may lead to higher costs and could

possibly even constrain the greater US and global economy. Emerging synergies between

electronic and photonic integration technologies will result in revolutionary changes in

photonics manufacturing that will dramatically change design principles and

fundamentally improve performance. Integrated photonic circuits will be a critical

competitive differentiator for applications ranging from telecommunications networks to

data center links to computer and on-processor interconnects. The leaders of this

revolution will gain sustainable advantages in national security and in advancing the

infrastructure that enables our Internet-based economy.

Aside from assuring a robust telecommunications infrastructure, the United States also

seeks to be a global competitor in high-tech industries, including information technology

(IT), data center services and equipment, communications network services and

equipment, and the components that support them. Leadership in this sector will drive

high-value service and manufacturing jobs for years and decades to come and will launch

spin-off technologies.

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R&D Funding

Europe, Japan, and China have made significant R&D investments in technology and

telecommunications in recent years. Consequently, Europe is now strong in high-speed

communications, Japan in photonic integration, and China in access network technology.

Meanwhile, the US effort has less government support — and the support is less strategic

and less centralized.

The US optical communications equipment supply chain has been dismantled since the

early 1980s, when AT&T controlled the ecosystem from top to bottom. It has been rebuilt

overseas, with market share shifting particularly to Asian suppliers. R&D also fragmented

and synergies within the US economy were lost. Offshore suppliers gained strength, making

it more difficult for US-based manufacturers to recover market share.

This fragmentation also makes it difficult for companies to differentiate their products. The

result is that content managers such as Facebook, Apple, Google, Amazon and Netflix are

leveraging the technology with large profit margins, while the infrastructure providers

including companies such as AT&T and Verizon, as well as telecom equipment vendors,

face declining margins. The result is a lack of concentrated R&D funding necessary to drive

the next stages of optical communications innovation. Cooperative industry and

government funding in R&D will enable and accelerate the commercialization of solutions

for use in the US infrastructure and abroad, and it will preempt other countries from

dominating the technology to the exclusion of the United States.

Past R&D funding by US agencies such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

(DARPA), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), National Science Foundation

(NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology and others has been successful in

enhancing US industry leadership in optical communications. For example, DARPA’s High-

Productivity Computing Systems program supported the development of optical

interconnects for hundreds of thousands of high-performance processor cores for IBM’s

POWER775 computing systems. Government agency support and partnerships with IBM,

Avago Technologies, and US Conec enabled commercialization of the first system with

much higher interconnectivity than earlier systems, helping to maintain US leadership in

high-performance computing, another field increasingly challenged by foreign competition.

Meeting the challenge requires a healthy ecosystem of domestic network providers, data

center operators, communications equipment vendors, and component suppliers. Yet, as

the National Research Council (NRC) report notes, “[m]any of the optical communications

successes over the last 10 years are built on earlier research that came from research

laboratories of vertically integrated companies, as well as strongly supported government

agencies. The industry is no longer integrated, but instead is segmented….In this

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fragmented environment there has been a reduction in industrial research laboratories,

because the reduced scale makes it difficult for companies to capture the value that is

prudently needed to justify investing in researchv.” Opportunities for investment should

include next-generation manufacturing technology. Key topics include greater integration

of photonics and electronics, optical interconnections between and within chips, advanced

optical packaging processes, devices based on nano-photonic technologies, and fiber optic

spatial multiplexing. Research topics for special equipment for military needs might

include photonic integration for radio frequency (RF) photonics, quantum communication

and free-space communication such as that between satellites.

Recommendation: Renew and increase federal funding for future generations of

technology, with programs that allow access by researchers in publicly traded

companies, private companies and universities.

Fair Trade

Aggressive foreign pricing practices and IP violations are allowing competitors to gain

market share. This threatens the survival of US communications equipment suppliers,

communications equipment jobs, and telecommunications network security.

Recommendation: Uphold fair trade practices to ensure that intellectual property

is protected in the telecommunications equipment market.

Network Security

For many decades, US networks were largely operated by national monopolies using

equipment that was designed and manufactured by themselves or domestic vendors. In

recent years, the competitive landscape for communications equipment changed greatly,

with equipment vendors and their component suppliers more globalized than before. The

market has forced some vendors to merge (e.g., Alcatel-Lucent), some to exit altogether

(e.g., Nortel), while other vendors have emerged from a low profile to capture substantial

market share (e.g., Huawei and ZTE). Only two of the top 10 network equipment companies

are now located in the United States: Cisco and Tellabs. Huawei has vied for market-leader

position in recent years and ZTE is also in the top five. If this trend continues, it is possible

that there will not be any US domestic vendors for many types of networking equipment

deemed critical to US government operations — a major threat to national security.

It is possible that an adversary could withhold equipment or parts or insert sophisticated

“back doors” into the networking equipment for eavesdropping or sabotage. Importantly,

the adversary does not actually have to act on such vulnerabilities; the threat itself

weakens US national security and threatens the economy. The US government must ensure

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access to trusted sources (“safe provenance”) of specific equipment and components for its

own future equipment needs.

Recommendation: Develop a healthy supply chain of trusted components and

equipment for the US infrastructure such as a domestic commercial-grade facility

for fabricating integrated photonics components, co-founded by industry and the

government or secure US-based trusted sources for complete optical

telecommunications systems.

Training and Education

Advances in optical communications will require skilled workers for companies in all levels

of the supply chain: network and data center operators, equipment vendors, component

suppliers, and installation and maintenance personnel. The sophistication of skills needed

range from optical technicians graduating from community colleges to engineering

graduates from top universities.

Recommendation: Increase state and federal funding for practical training and

education in optics and photonics, and funding for NSF’s National Center for Optics

and Photonics Education.

US companies today report difficulty hiring qualified technician-level workers as well as

documented workers of all levels. The NRC notes a brain drain in positions at US

universities, which could also be said of US university graduates: “Several nations have

invested in hiring distinguished researchers to prominent, well-paid professorial positions.

Oftentimes, these researchers have made their reputations in the United States, only to be

drawn away in their prime. This trend could have a profound impactvi.” Both companies

and universities seem to attract many applications from interested and qualified graduates

from top-ranked US and foreign universities, but many candidates lack the legal

documentation to work in the United States. Easing work visa rules and increasing funding

for practical training and education in optics would help alleviate this talent and technician

shortage.

Recommendation: Re-evaluate US work visa policy so US employers attract and

retain the best-qualified and trained employees, and create and improve training

opportunities at home to better train and thus employ US residents.

Broadband Infrastructure

The increase in Internet traffic over the past several years has been nothing short of

astounding: Internet traffic grew from 0.17 petabytes (PB) per month in 1995 to more than

20,500 PB per month in 2011. This remarkable growth has been possible due to the

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existence of several key optical technologies: the erbium-doped fiber amplifier,

increasingly powerful forward error correction, dense wavelength division multiplexing

technologies, and coherent transmission. Given that Internet traffic continues to grow at a

compounded annual rate of 30 to 50 percent, most experts agree that new disruptive

optical fiber transmission technologies will be needed this decade to meet Internet growth.

Possible disruptive technologies that have been discussed include: advanced higher order

coding schemes, spatial division multiplexing, photonic integrated circuit technologies, and

ultra-broadband optical amplifiers. It is critical that funding and policy decisions are made

that allow the US photonics industry to participate fully in this innovation and, more

importantly, to lead in next generation photonic manufacturing technologies that will

position the United States as a low-cost manufacturing leader.

Communications infrastructure plays a key role in the US economy, leveraging other

sectors and bringing society-wide benefits. While US companies were early to install optical

fiber into telecommunication networks, the bar continues to be raised in a modern

economy. Recent statements from the Federal Communications Commission and efforts

from the Fiber to the Home Council aim to challenge and support communities to improve

infrastructurevii. It is important that public and private network operators continue to have

incentives to invest in fiber infrastructure to ensure US economic strength and growth in

new applications, such as telemedicine, distance education, advanced manufacturing,

energy conservation, and national security.

Recommendation: Adopt policies that promote the installation of next generation

broadband infrastructure throughout US communities.

i www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html. The value refers to rates in 2012, and is nearly double the rate in 2011. ii Telecommunications Industry Association, ICT Market Review and Forecast, 2012.

iii National Research Council, Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for Our Nation (Washington DC, National

Academies Press, 2012), page 65. iv Cisco, Cisco Global Cloud Index, 2013; Web. 8 May 2013.

v National Research Council, Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for Our Nation (Washington DC, National

Academies Press, 2012), page 99. vi National Research Council, Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for Our Nation (Washington DC, National

Academies Press, 2012), page 96-97. vii

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Issues Gigabit City Challenge to Providers, Local, and State Governments to Bring at Least One Ultra-Fast Gigabit Internet Community to Every State in U.S. by 2015 (January 18, 2013).

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DEFENSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY

When US soldiers step onto the battlefield, their safety and ability to efficiently carry out

their mission rests largely on optics and photonics technology. Soldiers carry night vision

goggles to see in the dark; they use laser range finders and target designators to direct

weapons precisely; they determine the location of hostile forces using high-resolution

images acquired from pilotless, unmanned systems; and they utilize high-speed, secure,

optical communications to receive intelligence and data from control centers sometimes

thousands of miles away. The ability to gather and transfer information quickly can be the

deciding factor in times of conflicts. As such, current and future US superiority in

intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (IRS) and high-power laser capability is, and

will continue to be, determined by photonic technologies.

While defense needs are unique, the advanced technologies developed to meet those needs

can be leveraged to drive new generations of high-tech commercial applications: high-

speed, secure Internet; faster and more powerful computers and mobile devices; advanced

medical imaging, diagnostics and treatments; enhanced environmental sensing; and

lightweight and portable sources of renewable energy. Coordinated investment and

associated technology development in remote sensing, photonic integrated circuit

manufacturing, advanced lasers, and cybersecurity will help ensure future military and

economic security.

High-Energy Lasers and Systems

Photonics is a major part of many high-performance systems used by the military. The

fundamental technologies for directed energy laser systems are based on myriad photonics

technologies, from creation of the high-power laser beam to beam profile control, target

acquisition, target tracking, and precision beam pointing. Lower-power lasers are already

employed extensively in the form of illuminators, rangefinders, and are used to gather

intelligence and for reconnaissance. Wavelength-agile, compact, rugged, and affordable

infrared laser systems are needed to provide protection for a wide variety of US military

and commercial air, sea and land platforms against heat-seeking missiles. Heat-seeking

missiles are relatively inexpensive, costing only several thousand dollars each, yet they put

at risk aircraft costing tens of millions of dollars. Aircraft can be protected effectively

against shoulder-launched, heat-seeking missiles by photonics-based counter measures

that provide a very cost-effective deterrence. High-energy laser (HEL) weapons offer ultra-

precise targeting, and are extremely low cost per use, lightweight, and have nearly an

unlimited magazine. In some situations, the extensive magazine and low cost per use make

laser weapons the only affordable method of countering a threat.

16

HEL weapons could soon become the preferred method to counter and restrict enemy

forces in situations involving strategic nuclear and chemical-biological weapon (CBW)

threats from near-peer and rogue adversaries. Multi-megawatt class lasers could protect

major cities from strategic missile attacks; proper deployment of these lasers can destroy

strategic CBW threats in their “boost phase,” the phase of a missile’s flight during which the

engines are still thrusting, minimizing the potential for chemical, biological, or nuclear

damage to US cities and those of our allies. For example, a megawatt class next generation

airborne laser (ALB) could defend Honolulu and San Francisco from a missile attack across

the Pacific Ocean and could be easily repositioned to intercept threats originating from

other global locations. Laser weapons may offer the only affordable, effective defense

against ballistic missiles with advanced maneuvering capabilities, cruise missiles,

swarming small craft and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) threats. While strategic laser

platforms could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, they have the potential to save

millions of lives. These platforms also provide a strategic deterrent to rogue nations’

threats and posturing.

HEL weapons could be a game changer in defense weapon systems similar to the impact of

the cannon on warfare 700 years ago. Unfortunately, the United States has reduced

spending on HEL technologies and systems in the past five years, concentrating its

investment in a limited spectrum of technologies (solid state and fiber) that may limit the

country’s ability to achieve the megawatt class high-power lasers required for the most

dangerous threats. In fact, several of the materials and components for US laser systems

are now manufactured only overseas, a growing potential threat to US national security.

Recommendation: Significantly increase investment in all elements of HEL systems

and the full spectrum of high-energy laser technologies, and set a national vision for

strategic and tactical high-power laser system implementation.

Sensors

Existing microwave or radio frequency (RF) sensor suites (e.g. radar) have been the

backbone of our legacy sensing systems and remain a tool for sourcing invaluable

information. However, current RF sensor platforms based mainly on electronics can

require up to three tons of weight in traditional electronic components and cabling, and

they have a more limited operating range of 10 to 20 km. Though current optics and

photonic sensor technologies offer superior capability to today’s radar in many areas,

advanced photonics technologies can offer a smaller, lightweight, longer-range alternative

to enhance or even replace radar sensors. This can provide military personnel the highest

level of confidence that a target is indeed a valid military threat before an operation is

executed.

17

The United States has developed passive wide area imagers like the 1.84 gigapixel visible

imager ARGUS, which allows troops to view an area greater than eight miles with a one-

foot resolution. This can be a transformational capability, especially in an urban

environment. Currently, this capability is available only for daytime operations with the

viewing area much more limited for comparable resolution at night. Next-generation active

photonic sensors like HALOE, which currently uses laser sources for illumination to

provide 3D imaging and mapping over wide areas, can offer such enhanced capabilities day

or night.

Small, inexpensive sensors mounted on robotic vehicles or in UAV’s are increasingly

needed on the battlefield to provide real-time imagery and intelligence. The United States

needs to increase the deployment of such ubiquitous, inexpensive, low-power sensors that

are connected to a secure network to provide real-time updates and actionable

information. Similarly, the United States must invest in the industrial infrastructure to

design and manufacture these defense-oriented sensors domestically.

Recommendation: Develop continuous, infrared gigapixel sensors with the ability

to image in 2D and 3D very wide areas at night or day in high resolution.

Cyber Superiority and Integrated Circuit Manufacturing

Information gathering is vital to military superiority and national security. The United

States needs to develop the capabilities to ensure the highest bandwidth and most secure

wired and free space communications systems. These technologies would also provide the

backbone of the next generation Internet with associated commercial applications.

Advances in photonics integrated circuits and component packaging will increase

capabilities in communication, intelligence, navigation, electronic warfare, and sensing

systems. In addition to reduced system size, weight, power and cost, the ability to integrate

large numbers of devices on a given chip enables new applications and performance

capabilities that would not otherwise be possible or economically feasible.

For years, the United States was a leader in the field of integrated photonics. Today,

however, the packaging of these components is primarily done overseas. The emergence of

integrated photonic technologies, which require new packaging approaches, will create an

opportunity to recapture this market. An investment now in a shared foundry service that

would help US companies in the design, manufacturing, and packaging of next-generation

integrated photonic circuits at an affordable cost will permit larger-scale deployment of

high-performance communication and sensor technology to our military and commercial

platforms. These critical military systems and their commercial counterparts will benefit

from the increased capability, manufacturability, environmental stability, size, weight,

power, and cost that photonic integration enables.

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Recommendation: Establish a photonic foundry service tailored to the needs and

volumes of the military, which are much more demanding than most commercial

specs.

Recommendation: Invest in research to develop low-cost packaging solutions in

the United States for photonics integrated circuits.

Defense Workforce

The aerospace and defense industry currently supports 3.5 million jobs. The industry’s

workforce is highly skilled and leads the nation in global competitiveness, providing

current and future opportunities for young people to have high-paying careers that will

keep the industry strong for the future while advancing US national and economic securityi.

Unfortunately, downward trends in US citizens with STEM training means fewer

technically qualified individuals capable of obtaining security clearance. Due to the “boom

and bust” instability of R&D funding, it is now more difficult than ever to attract qualified

scientists and engineers to the disciplines essential to a defense workforce. Furthermore, as

the baby boomer generation approaches retirement, insufficient numbers of students,

scientists, and engineers are in the pipeline to replace this huge pool of talent. The current

employment pool of engineers and technicians represent a very valuable resource essential

to our national security — one that provides great economic benefit. As this current

workforce approaches retirement, the United States will need to replace these retirees with

comparably trained and talented young engineers and scientists.

Since 2006, industry investment in R&D has been declining by approximately 0.1 percent

per year, mirroring the national investment trend. This represents a significant loss of

intellectual capital and jobs when analyzed in real dollars, and translates to insufficient

industrial capacity and significant workforce uncertainty. Fabrication of the precision

optics necessary for high-power lasers is limited by that insufficient industrial capacity and

time; it takes a year or more to achieve true high-power application. A national vision will

reinvigorate the R&D environment and provide direction and motivation to the next

generation of science and technology leaders.

Recommendation: Establish a national vision for R&D in photonics technologies to

reinvigorate our science- and technology-driven defense workforce.

i American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, “Assuring the Viability of the U.S. Aerospace and Defense Industrial Base: An AIAA Information Paper,” 2013.

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ENERGY

The United States is the second-largest consumer of energy in the world and ranks second

among major nations in per capita energy usage behind Canadai. A significant portion of

this energy comes from other countries, influencing our foreign policy and impacting our

national security. Global demand for new energy sources represents a significant growth

opportunity for US manufacturers and producers. Renewable energy technologies are

especially attractive, since most energy sources depend on fossil fuels — a limited resource

that can be dangerous to extract and harmful to the environment.

Photonics-based technologies have the potential to reshape our energy future into one that

is cleaner, more efficient, and more secure. Solar energy devices that provide a renewable,

secure and domestic energy source, efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that lower

energy consumption and operating costs, and sensors that allow oil and gas companies to

not only locate new wells but extract resources more safely will all contribute to a stronger

economy. Photonics has also played a major role in analyzing the dynamics of combustion

for gasoline and diesel engines. This has led to a better understanding of engine design and

has improved the energy efficiency of internal combustion engines.

Existing federal programs such as the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research

Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Energy are funding and coordinating high-impact research in some of these areas, but more

work is needed. The Chinese government, for example, has designated solar power and

LED lighting as critical industries, providing tens of billions of dollars in the form of loans,

land, and R&D funding to directly support Chinese companies in this field. To remain

competitive, US companies will need continued research and development investments and

structural support to lead the world into a clean, secure, and efficient energy future.

Energy Generation: Solar Power

While today’s solar-generated electrical power represents a small fraction of the world’s

production capacity — less than 0.5 percentii — solar power is the fastest energy

generation source in the United States. In 2012, the US market size for solar energy was

$11.5 billion, a 34 percent increase over 2011iii. This growth will be accelerated by reduced

manufacturing costs of existing technology and the development and introduction of new,

lower-cost materials and devices. Solar energy can provide a sustainable energy source to

meet a significant portion of the nation’s total projected energy needs, but system and

production costs must be reduced in order to be competitive with other energy sources. To

do so will require investments and advances in materials, technology, transmission, and

manufacturing.

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In 2012, 3.2 GW of solar energy capacity was installed in the United States, representing 10

percent of the world solar capacity installed that yeariv. A reasonable estimate for US

installations in the year 2020 is about 20 GW per year. With an average utility-based

system price of $1.70/W today, the revenue from this activity is in the range of $40 billion

per year. The globally accessible market for US-based companies is, of course, much higher,

probably by a factor of 10.

Domestic manufacturing levels of solar energy technologies also remain an obstacle to US

competitiveness. Although photovoltaic (PV) cells were invented at Bell Labs in the United

States, and US companies were pioneers in efficient PV design, the majority of PV

production takes place in Asia and Europe today, with less than 5 percent remaining in the

United Statesv. In fact, eight of the top 10 panel manufacturers in 2012 were Chinesevi.

Basic investments in manufacturing, technology, and science could potentially bring these

jobs back to the United States.

Both R&D and public policy have played, and will continue to play, a vital role in reducing

hardware and non-hardware costs in solar energy and in expanding markets. The economic

case must be compelling to overcome resistance to change. The opportunity for US

company participation in the growing solar market has never been greater, but likewise, so

has foreign competitive pressure. Currently, most government support for solar energy is

concentrated within the DOE. Past DOE programs that provided cost sharing for longer-

term R&D in industry were some of the highest-leveraged programs, with great economic

benefits for the United States. Programs that fund joint R&D programs among academia,

industry, and national laboratories also have been shown to have a high return on

investment. Such programs not only produce valuable results directly, they also provide

the opportunity for graduates from US universities to gain experience in topics relevant to

US companies. As PV technology quickly evolves in many different directions, sustained

coordination and communication among industry, academia and government is needed to

ensure that programs are administered efficiently and are working to best meet the

overarching needs of the industry.

Recommendation: Increase funding for federal solar R&D supporting collaboration

among industry, academia, and national labs to work on longer term, but

commercializable, products.

Recommendation: Create a permanent industrial advisory committee for the DOE

solar initiative to assist in documenting industry needs and to aid in developing the

national strategy and position.

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Recommendation: Establish a sustained “road map” for solar energy among

industry, academia, national labs, and government with an emphasis on

performance, cost, and market trajectories.

Energy Conservation and Efficiency: LEDs

LED technologies have advanced considerably since the first demonstrations more than 50

years ago. From the mobile device market, to liquid crystal display (LCD) backlighting, to

general illumination applications, highly energy-efficient LEDs are rapidly becoming

omnipresent in the household.

This technology presents an opportunity for a robust, energy efficient, cutting-edge

industry. The global solid-state high-brightness LED market was $13.7 billion in 2012vii.

With continued improvements in performance and reductions in manufacturing cost, LEDs

should begin to dominate general lighting, with an estimated market of $84 billion by

2020viii. Because LEDs are more efficient than existing incandescent sources, the

opportunity exists for significant reductions in energy costs. Residential LEDs, for example,

use at least 75 percent less energy and last 25 times longer than incandescent lighting. By

2030, the forecasted energy savings from the use of LED lighting in the United States is

about 45 percent — a savings of $30 billion at today’s energy costsix.

Solid-state lighting (SSL) technologies, such as LEDs, present an opportunity for a robust,

clean-energy, high-technology industry that could provide strong economic benefits,

including increased exports of high-quality goods and a large number of well-paying jobs in

the United States. Unfortunately, the United States lags behind other nations that have

made this area a national priority. For example, large investments and subsidies in Asia,

specifically China, are leading the movement of high-technology SSL infrastructure

overseas; it is estimated that Asian suppliers have established a market share of more than

70 percentx. While the global LED market was $13.7 billion in 2012, only one US company

— Cree Inc. — was a top 10 global LED supplier, accounting for just 7.7 percent of the

marketxi. Investment in the next generation of lighting technologies, such as organic LEDs

(OLED) and electro-luminescent panels, could position the US as the leader in energy

efficient lighting. The US must move quickly in order to capitalize on this opportunity and

capture the SSL market.

DOE’s SSL Multi-year Program Plan (MYPP), created in cooperation with industry and

academia, is valuable in leading the United States to the top of SSL research, product

development, and manufacturing. The MYPP includes quantitative performance and cost

metric goals for SSL that serve as a road map to coordinate national research efforts.

Furthermore, it sets clear criteria for evaluating the impact of proposed programs and

fosters annual collaborative revisions, thus drawing broad acceptance from industry and

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academia. Increased funding is needed for federal SSL technologies R&D to address the

bigger picture problems in manufacturing, such as materials development. This mechanism

should co-exist with and complement the existing DOE MYPP. Examples of successful

programs to emulate are MANTECH, which provides advanced technological services to the

United States government, and the DOD’s Microwave and Millimeter Wave Monolithic

Integrated Circuit (MIMIC) program. MIMIC was a research initiative in the 1980’s and

1990’s that took research into circuits and turned it into manufactured products for

defense and later commercial application.

Unfortunately, most available program funds are small and divided across many different

technologies, as well as across R&D and manufacturing efforts. The resulting program

funding levels are low (generally less than $1 million per year) and funding typically favors

application-based projects, not fundamental materials and device research. As such,

current funding opportunities are not positioned to address wider-ranging industry needs,

such as materials development and efficiency improvements.

Recommendation: Increase federal funding for university-based basic materials

R&D in support of the US SSL industry.

Recommendation: Increase federal funding for industry-based manufacturing

technology development that addresses the big-issue problems of SSL.

Energy Exploration and Monitoring: Photonic Sensing

Fiber optic sensors for monitoring oil and gas wells on land and under the sea are

providing real-time feedback on the mining environment; ground and satellite based

optical instruments are monitoring greenhouse gas emission and CO2 emissions from

electrical plants and transport vehicles; and, data collected by photonic instruments is

being used to develop accurate climate models for predicting the impact of changes in our

climate. From the sea to the sky, photonics is being employed to monitor our changing

environment.

With exploration spreading into new areas, such as shale gas and deep ocean wells, and

demand for domestic energy sources high, there is now an increased focus on real-time

monitoring to improve extraction methods, increase safety, and mitigate risks. Optics and

photonics technologies can play a major role in achieving those goals. Fiber optic and free-

space sensors are used to monitor oil and gas wells and emissions from electric and nuclear

plants, as well as provide real-time feedback on mining environments.

In 2011, US oil and gas exploration and production expenditures totals exceeded $250

billionxii. The percentage of this investment enabled by photonics sensing and monitoring

23

capabilities is difficult to quantify, as it involves numerous externalities that are not

currently assigned dollar values. One internal industry market analysis covering only one

type of commonly used sensing methods, distributed fiber optic sensing, estimated the

market to be more than $1 billion by 2016 with 70 percent in the oil and gas industry.

Fiber optic sensing started in the petroleum industry more than 15 years ago with

successes in California’s shallow, cooler wells. In recent years, new materials, better

instrumentation, and mechanical protection techniques have advanced to the point that

fiber can now survive in harsh oil and gas environments, as well as aerospace and nuclear

power environments, for 10 years or more without failure. The challenge now is to make

use of fiber optics’ advantages over conventional sensing systems, demonstrating more

efficient and cleaner oil and gas extraction.

Additionally, photonic sensors are enabling smart buildings by turning lights off when one

leaves the room and darkening windows at midday when the sun is strongest. These

advances allow building environments to operate more efficiently and cost effectively.

While industry-government coordination in this field currently is limited, there has been

some success in joint industry technology development programs. The DeepStar initiative

— an industry collaboration project focused on advancing technologies for deepwater

drilling — is a strong example. DeepStar was launched by the oil industry in 1992 and

provides a forum for industry experts to discuss deep-ocean drilling challenges. Replicating

these efforts for the larger sensing community would be highly beneficial.

Recommendations: Create a road map for sensing applications that includes fiber

and free-space technologies covering all aspects of energy monitoring. The activity

should be sponsored by an industry-based consortium to ensure relevance to near-

term and longer-term technology needs.

Recommendation: Create an industry-led collaboration similar to the DeepStar

program but supported by government investments that is focused on early-stage

fiber and free-space sensing technology development. The program should be

designed to foster innovation and R&D while reducing the financial risk of

individual participants.

Workforce Status

Currently, the US workforce was found to have modest-to-moderate growth needs in all

areas ranging from technical education, R&D, engineering, manufacturing and deployment,

with slightly higher demand in energy generation areas than the LED and sensing fields.

Re-prioritized increases in university and national laboratory funds directed at topics of

relevance to industry will be required to help meet these needs. The solar energy field will

24

also need increased infrastructure and training programs for installation skills as demand

rises. However, as market adoption of optical technologies increases, the demand for highly

skilled optical technicians will also likely rise. In that event, robust training programs

through technical education programs, community colleges and universities, or an import

of talent, would be needed to ensure an adequate supply of skilled workers. As is the case

across manufacturing, job training opportunities are limited in the US. While the US should

strive to develop more internship and apprenticeship programs at home staffed by

instructors familiar with this fast-paced field, the ability to train more US workers overseas

is a short-term solution. Without this training, the US workforce will lack the skills to

compete with the global market.

i The World Bank, “World Development Indicators,” 2011. ii Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, “Solar Power Fact Sheet,” October 2012.

iii Solar Energy Industries Association, “U.S. Solar Market Insight 2012 Year in Review,” March 14, 2013.

iv Solar Energy Industry Association, “Solar Market Insight Report 2012 Year-in-Review,” March 14, 2013.

v Photon International, Earth Policy Institute, Wiley Rein. Graphic: Tobey/ The Washington Post. December 16,

2011. vi Based on preliminary figures. In PV, by revenue, the three top companies are likely all US-based, with First Solar

#1 (CdTe-based PV), #2 SunPower Corporation (advanced c-Si based), and #3 MEMC (c-Si based). All three companies have large downstream presence and more than 600 employees in the U.S. vii

Strategies Unlimited, “Worldwide LED Component Market Grows 9%, with Lighting Ranking First Among Application Segments,” February 13, 2013. viii

McKinsey Inc., “Global Lighting Market Model,” 2012. ix United States Department of Energy, “Energy Saver: LED Lighting,” July 29, 2013.

x Young, R., IMS Research, “Global Manufacturing Trends: What Can We Learn from the HB LED Market

Explosion?” DOE Manufacturing R&D Workshop presentation, April 12, 2011. xi Strategies Unlimited, “Worldwide LED Component Market Grows 9%, with Lighting Ranking First Among

Application Segments,” February 13, 2013. xii

BP PLC, “Statistical Review of World Energy,” June 8, 2011.

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HEALTH AND MEDICINE

In the emergency room, a patient experiencing chest pains or a severe headache almost

invariably receives a high-resolution, three-dimensional computed tomography (CT) scan

that can assist in the life-saving diagnosis and treatment of a heart attack, pulmonary

embolism, or stroke. In the clinical laboratory, blood samples are analyzed using lasers and

optical imaging to provide readings on a patient’s immune and circulatory systems, and

human genes are tested using photonics systems to determine if a patient has a

predisposition to life-threating diseases such as cancer to better inform treatment options.

And, in the surgical suite, the pulse oximeter uses light to provide surgeons and

anesthesiologists with precise and real-time readings of a patient’s blood oxygen saturation

levels to prevent brain damage; optical endoscopes provide surgeons a close-up view of

organs; and laser surgery minimizes the size of the surgical incision, reducing trauma and

infection risk while dramatically speeding recovery. Eye surgeons also commonly use

lasers for vision correction surgery and eye doctors are using retinal imaging for

sophisticated eye exams. These examples highlight a few of the many ways photonics and

optics are used today to improve health care, reduce costs, and save lives.

The United States boasts the most technologically advanced yet the most costly health care

in the world: almost 20 cents of every dollar goes toward the system. Photonics will play a

key role in next generation health care technology, both in enhancing our ability to observe

and measure symptoms, as well as our capability to treat patients earlier with less invasive,

more cost-effective methods.

Photonics-based health care tools offer sensitivity, precision, speed and accuracy, enabling

rapid, personalized diagnosis, and effective therapy — key ingredients for high-quality,

cost-effective care. The development of smaller, more portable, automated, point-of-care

diagnostic devices has the potential to further improve care, across the full spectrum of

places patients are seen or monitored. Faster surgeries with fewer complications; shorter

hospital stays; fewer hospital admissions; shorter and more helpful visits to primary and

secondary physicians’ offices; and timely health alerts at home, work or while exercising

will all contribute to lower costs, better outcomes, and a healthier population.

Today, the global biophotonics market was estimated at $23 billion in 2012 and it is

expected to reach $36 billion by 2017i. This rapid growth is exemplified by the relatively

new but growing field of optical coherence tomography (OCT). OCT systems obtain detailed

images of the interior of the eye, but the technology also has applications in cardiology,

gastroenterology, and even pharmaceutical process control. The rapidly expanding OCT

market exceeded $645 million in 2012ii, with a significant portion of OCT technology

companies located in the United States. While the United States is the acknowledged world

26

leader in biophotonics, medical devices, and diagnostic products, and has more than half of

the leading global medical device companies, other nations are making significant

investments in medical instrumentation. A focused, photonics-driven effort in health care

and medicine is needed to maintain the country’s leadership position.

Photonics Tools

Medical Devices

Growth in computational power and image processing capabilities has rapidly improved

optical devices and image quality and techniques, moving the health care system away

from qualitative physician assessment toward more automated and quantitative

diagnostics. This is taking place both at the bedside and in the operating room. Next-

generation devices and techniques will, for example, allow surgeons to identify and remove

cancer cells in real-time, and to diagnose concussions instantly and accurately. Diagnosis

will be combined with specific targeting of diseased cells and tissues, so that early

detection can be met with highly accurate therapy and result in improved outcomes at

reduced costs.

The drive for early detection requires the development and introduction of reliable and

reproducible quantitative imaging instruments. These instruments will require the

development of calibration standards that will bring confidence to early diagnosis, which is

particularly necessary when striving for the lowest possible limits of detection. Standards

also allow for the quantitative comparison of patients’ data over time, across individuals

and across laboratories, increasing the speed with which correct diagnoses are developed

and delivered and minimizing “false positives.” The US software, information technology,

and medical instrumentation industries, in cooperation with the National Institute of

Standards and Technology (NIST) and academia, should work together to prioritize the

commercial development of imaging standards for both acquisition and storage, as well as

new software methods automating the extraction, quantification, and identification of

regions of interest in large, 2D and 3D data sets to optimize the utility of new and emerging

imaging instrumentation.

Recommendation: Prioritize development of imaging standards and software

methods that automate the extraction, quantification and identification of regions of

interest in multidimensional data sets.

The next generation of point-of-care diagnostic and therapeutic devices will require new,

even more powerful capabilities at a lower cost. Current medical instruments and life

science research tools benefit greatly from technology developed for and repurposed from

27

the telecommunication industry. For example, new low-cost lasers developed for long-haul

telecommunication to provide simultaneous cutting and cauterization can be used by

surgeons for sterile, “no contact” incisions to reduce bleeding and patient trauma. Although

laser and optical technologies can often be adopted from other fields, medical applications

typically require a higher level of performance to be safe and effective. Additional R&D

investments are needed for health and medicine to build on these advances in photonics

adopted from other fields.

Recommendation: Fund the development of affordable, automated point-of-care

diagnostic devices in areas of major medical needs such as infectious diseases,

internal traumatic injuries and cardiac arrest, and invest in the development and

enhancement of existing optical technologies suitable for innovative medical

applications.

Biomedical Research

The incorporation of new photonics technologies into life science research tools has a long

and successful history in the United States. From the early development of the flow

cytometer, the key instrument that unraveled the mysteries of the AIDS epidemic, to the

development of high-throughput gene sequencing equipment that has lowered the cost of

sequencing a human genome from tens of millions of dollars to under $1,000, the United

States has been the world leader in photonics-driven innovation in biomedical

instrumentation.

Understanding the immune system and diseases at the cellular and molecular level will

require the ability to image individual cells in real-time within the human body, which will,

in turn, require new, 3D visualization tools and related data processing, acquisition and

storage formats to be in place. Much research remains to be done. In recent years,

extraordinary advances in the imaging of living cells have come out of Europe.

Breakthroughs are required to improve the utility of biomedical images. Sharing data

across institutions and researchers will be a powerful way to enable the necessary

advances.

Recommendation: Invest in the creation of an information technology

infrastructure for sharing large amounts of medical and clinical data (e.g., well-

annotated medical images) and research into algorithms and software for analyzing

such data.

Major initiatives in life science and biomedical research are particularly valuable

opportunities to foster the creation of innovative photonics science and technology needed

28

for medical advances. For example, in 2013, President Obama announced the Brain

Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) project, which is

based, in part, on innovations in optical methods for interrogating brain function. This

initiative will greatly advance our understanding of how the mind works in hopes of

providing greater insight into Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other neurodegenerative

diseases. Further funding of photonics research under the auspices of the BRAIN project

will help ensure the continuous creation and integration of new tools into the broader

program. Similar opportunities exist to advance the safety and efficacy of stem cell-derived

tissue implants to repair or replace organs; low-cost diagnostics for drug-resistant

pathogens to prevent epidemics; and a comprehensive understanding of immune response

to disease or environmental factors to enable the body’s quick reaction to and diminish the

consequences of disease.

Recommendation: Allocate research funds for advanced photonics research as an

integral part of programs relying on novel measurements for the advancement of

understanding human biology, optogenetics, and disease.

Commercial Development and Regulatory Process

Appropriate controls on safety and utility for medical devices are maintained through

clinical trials and post-market regulations. The duration of the regulatory process is

difficult to predict, which leads to a high degree of uncertainty in the amount of investment

and time necessary to translate a new technology into approved medical instruments.

Recommendation: Increase collaboration between US government, regulatory

agencies, and industry to create an accelerated process for advanced clinical trial

designs for medical instrumentation and supporting clinical trials of promising new

cost-savings methods.

Increased engagement among industry, academia, government labs, and the National

Institutes of Health would benefit all parties. Industry input to proposal review panels

about the most important unmet medical needs could help these committees best evaluate

funding proposal option. Industry participation in these panels could provide early insight

into potential applications of new technology.

Recommendation: Increase medical expert and industry engagement in the

evaluation of research proposals, and use their recommendations for medical

applications as motivation and guidance for next steps in the commercialization

process (e.g., translational research or Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)

program funding).

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Collaboration and Training

Medical applications of technology are inherently multidisciplinary. Collaborations across

electrical and mechanical engineering, physics, math, computer science, biology,

biochemistry, and medicine are essential. The most innovative employees are often those

with deep expertise in engineering or physical science, as well as life science or medicine.

Dual training increases the likelihood of innovation at the intersections of traditional fields.

Furthermore, interdisciplinary teams provide greater insight into the most important

medical problems and can often offer multiple alternatives for solving these problems.

Recommendation: Expand investment in multidisciplinary centers, such as

universities with medical and engineering schools, at which critical developments

that combine discoveries in multiple fields can be efficiently fostered.

i Yole Développement, Tematys, and EPIC, “Biophotonics Market, Focus on Life Sciences & Health Applications,” April 2013. ii BCC Research LLC, “Global Markets and Technologies for Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT),” May 2013.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The National Photonics Initiative (NPI) Committee would like to thank the following

organizations for their support in the development of the NPI white paper, “Lighting the

Path to a Competitive, Secure Future.” Without the strong leadership and unified effort

provided by these organizations and the optics and photonics community, this project

would not have been possible.

Founding Sponsors: The Optical Society (OSA) and SPIE, the international society for

optics and photonics.

Sponsors: American Physical Society (APS), IEEE Photonics Society (IPS), and Laser

Institute of America (LIA).

Collaborators: Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS), Infinera, Laser Mechanisms

(Laser Mech), National Academy Sciences (NAS), Optoelectronics Industry Development

Association (OIDA) and Stanford Photonics Research Center (SPRC).

National Photonics Initiative · www.lightourfuture.org