Transparent Ceramics for Photonic Applications

The International Symposium on Transparent Ceramics for Photonic Applications is an annual international conference since 2005. The previous LCS events were held in Poland (2005), Japan (2006), France (2007), China (2008), Spain (2009), Germany (2010), and Singapore (2011). The 8th LCS was held in Russia in the city of Nizhny Novgorod on December 4–7, 2012. The aim of the symposium was to provide a forum for material scientists, chemists and physicists, to discuss the state of the art of optical transparent ceramics, including basic aspects and promising applications, and to give an insight into future advances and research possibilities in this field. The symposium program included invited talks as well as contributed presentations. This year the main focuses of the symposium were: – Synthesis of high purity powders and transparent ceramics – Optical spectroscopy and characterization of physical properties – New materials and novel fabrication methods – Ceramic lasers and amplifiers – Composite structured laser ceramics. The International Program Committee had 24 members from 16 countries worldwide (http://www.8lcs.iapras.ru/committees.html). The OSA representative in the International Program Committee was academician S. N. Bagayev. After revision, the symposium program consisted of 42 reports, including 13 invited talks (invited speaker names can be found on the webpage: http://www.8lcs.iapras.ru/invited.html). Among the 67 participants of the LSC 2012, 44 were from Russia, 9 from P.R. China, 6 from Japan, 3 from Ukraine, 2 from South Korea, 1 from UK, 1 from Germany, and 1 from Singapore. The oral presentations were given in English. The symposium took four days and was divided into three sessions: “Ceramics fabrication ”, “Ceramics characterization ” and “Ceramic lasers ”. As representatives of the industry, Dr. Hideki Yagi from Konoshima Chemical Co. Ltd. (Japan) gave the interesting review “Transparent ceramics for photonic applications ” and Dr. Ken‐ichi Ueda from Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (Japan) told about important applications of laser ceramics in his lecture “Thermal lens free ceramic laser ”. The fellow of the Optical Society of America, director of the Institute of Extreme Light (France), Gerard Mourou, has visited the technical sessions and a subsequent discussion of the Laser Ceramics Symposium. The LCS has brought together leading experts from around the world, stimulated active discussions and contacts between the scholars and gave a bril