This time, the week will include 4,500-plus technical presentations across more than one hundred technical conferences, as well as showcasing more than 1,200 companies in four focused exhibitions. Networking, new products, and Nobel laureates complement the broad technical program and four exhibitions at the most exciting week in optics and photonics.

SPIE Photonics West has four major application areas: BiOS highlights new research in biophotonics, biomedical optics, and imaging for diagnostics and therapeutics, LASE focuses on the laser industry and its diverse applications, OPTO covers optoelectronics, photonic materials, and optical devices, and Quantum West features quantum 2.0 technologies from quantum sensing and information systems to quantum-­enabled materials and devices and quantum biology. Quantum West also includes a business summit highlighting the innovations that are  moving quantum technologies to market.

The BiOS Expo, featuring technologies in biomedical optics and healthcare applications, runs 25 – 26 January. The AR|VR|MR Expo – with a focus on headsets and hardware for XR applications – takes place on 28 – 29 January. The Quantum West Expo, also 28 – 29 January, will showcase the latest quantum-enabled and enabling technologies. The Photonics West Exhibition, running 28 – 30 January, encompasses the latest innovations from laser manufacturers and suppliers as well as other novel optics and photonics devices, components, systems, and services.

Highlighting the latest innovative research breakthroughs in optics and photonics will be dynamic Hot Topics and plenary speakers, with two Nobel laureates, Moungi Bawendi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Eric Cornell, University of Colorado Boulder, presenting. Fellow plenary speakers include Daniel Elson (Imperial College London), Michalina Gora (Wyss Center), Benjamin Miller (University of Rochester Medical Center), Vivek J. Srinivasan (New York University), Kate Grieve (INSERM), Frédéric Leblond (Polytechnic Montréal), Seemantini Nadkarni (Wellman Center for Photomedicine and Harvard Medical School), Paras N. Prasad (University at Buffalo), Naomi J. Halas (Rice University), Joanna Depciuch (Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences), Constantin Häfner (Fraunhofer ILT), Aiko Narazaki (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan), Nathalie Picqué (Max Born Institute), Henry Helvajian (The Aerospace Corporation), Paul Corkum (University of Ottawa), Alexander Szameit (University of Rostock), Christine Silberhorn (University of Paderborn), Tara Fortier (NIST), and Andrew Forbes (University of the Witwatersrand).
Registration for Photonics West covers access to the co-located, three-day SPIE AR|VR|MR conference, which focuses on augmented, virtual, and mixed reality and the vital role that optics and photonics play in hardware and headset development.

“Photonics West 2025 is shaping up to be an exciting and inspiring week,” said SPIE senior director of technical programs Marilyn Gorsuch. “As always, it marks the first major community gathering of the year, bringing together a vibrant mix of industry leaders, engineers, and researchers.”