Plenary Talks

Biography: Richard Friend has been on the Faculty in the Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, since 1980, where he is the Cavendish Professor of Physics. Professor Friend has pioneered the study of organic polymers as semiconductors, and his research group has demonstrated that these materials can be used in wide range of semiconductor devices, including light-emitting diodes and transistors. He has been very active in the process of technology transfer of this research to development for products. He co-founded Cambridge Display Technology Ltd in 1994. Light-emitting polymer displays developed by Cambridge Display Technology are now being manufactured under licence and are now used in a number of consumer products. He co-founded Plastic Logic Ltd in 2000 to develop directly-printed polymer transistor circuits, and these are now being developed as flexible active-matrix backplanes for e-paper displays. He is currently working on the use of polymer and related materials for thin-film photovoltaic diode applications.

Abstract: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an emerging imaging modality which can generate high resolution, cross-sectional images of microstructure in biological systems. OCT performs imaging by measuring the echo time delay of optical backscattering in the tissue. OCT functions as a type of "optical biopsy" to permit the visualization of tissue microstructure and pathology with resolutions approaching that of conventional biopsy and histology, but with the advantage of performing imaging in situ and in real time, without the need to remove and process a specimen. OCT technology draws upon many technologies in photonics and fiber optics, including femtosecond lasers, high speed CCDs and high speed, frequency swept lasers. Recent advances enable dramatic improvements in resolution to the few micron, cellular level as well as increases in imaging speeds which enable three dimensional imaging and visualization.

OCT is rapidly becoming a clinical standard in ophthalmology, where it enables imaging and measurement of retinal pathology with unprecedented resolutions. OCT is also being developed for many other applications ranging from cancer detection in endoscopy, to intravascular imaging in cardiology. This presentation will discuss OCT technology and applications.

Biography: James G. Fujimoto obtained his bachelors, masters, and doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1979, 1981, and 1984 respectively. Since 1985 he has been on the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at M.I.T. where he is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. His research interests include the development and application of femtosecond laser technology and studies of ultrafast phenomena. He is also active in biomedical optics, including the development of optical coherence tomography imaging. Dr. Fujimoto was awarded the Discover Magazine Award for Technological Innovation in medical diagnostics in 1999, and was co-recipient of the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics in 2002. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2001, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002 and the National Academy of Science in 2006. Dr. Fujimoto is a Fellow of the OSA, APS, and IEEE. He was program co-chair for the Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics CLEO '02 and general co-chair in 2004. Dr. Fujimoto has been general co-chair of the SPIE BIOS symposium since 2003. He was co-chair of the European Conferences on Biomedical Optics in 2005. Dr. Fujimoto was a member of the board of directors of the Optical Society of America from 2000 to 2003. He was co-founder of Advanced Ophthalmic Devices, the company that transferred OCT to Carl Zeiss for ophthalmic imaging and co-founder of LightLabs Imaging, a joint venture with Carl Zeiss in the area of endoscopic and cardiovascular imaging that was acquired by Goodman, Ltd. in 2002.