John Ballato

"The past, present, and future of glass and light"

ABSTRACT -- Glass and light have a conjoined and interwoven history throughout civilization. This talk will highlight some of this history while delving more deeply into the intersections of lasers and glass optical fibers. In particular, over their 50-year history, glass optical fibers have advanced from passive low-loss conduits for light, to active light-amplifying hosts, to a myriad of nano-to-macro-structuring of core-clad combinations. This history will also be discussed as a looking-glass into the future of optical fibers and its symbiosis with light to address the question: what can the next 50 years bring?

SPEAKER -- John Ballato is a professor of materials science and engineering at Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA, where he holds the Sirrine Endowed Chair in Optical Fiber. Ballato has published more than 450 technical papers and holds 34 U.S. and foreign patents. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American Physical Society (APS), Optica (formerly Optical Society of America, OSA), International Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE), and American Ceramic Society (ACerS). He is also an elected member of the US National Academy of Inventors and the World Academy of Ceramics.

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