The European Optical Society (EOS) is a European organisation for the development of the science of optics, founded in 1991. Membership is open to national optical societies, individuals, companies, organisations, educational institutions, and learned and professional societies. EOS runs international conferences, lobbies for optical science at European level, offers a focus for collecting and disseminating knowledge in the field, and publishes the online Journal of the European Optical Society: Rapid Publications (JEOS:RP).
Optics in Europe was represented by the European Optical Committee (EOC) until 1984, when the EOC joined the European Physical Society (EPS) to create an Optics Division. Two years later the national optical societies of several European countries founded the European Federation for Applied Optics – Europtica – which was officially registered in Paris in 1987. In December 1986 a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between EPS (the legal representative of the Optics Division), Europtica, and SPIE, in which the three parties agreed to organise jointly one major annual optics meeting in Europe. This MOU initiated the ECO series of meetings, which were managed by the French organisation Europtica Services International Communications. The experience with these conferences demonstrated the need for effective organisation of optical activities in Europe.
In view of this need, the Board of the Optics Division of EPS unanimously voted in March 1990 to open negotiations with Europtica in order to found the European Optical Society (EOS). EOS was founded on 24 May 1991.
In the view of the society, optics as a science, technology, and base for industry, consumer goods, and health care makes a significant contribution to society and has a great potential for further development. The purpose of the society is to contribute to progress in optics and related sciences, and to promote their applications at the European and international levels, by bringing together individuals and legal entities involved in these disciplines and their applications.
The EOS serves as the joint forum for all individuals, companies, organisations, educational institutions, and learned and professional societies, who recognise the opportunity and challenge that a common European base provides for the development of optics in its broadest sense. With the support of the national optical societies of many European countries, EOS seeks to provide a powerful joint representation for optics in Europe.
The EOS works to promote optics and related sciences in cooperation with industry and research by establishing a joint information platform, and by forming a national, European and international lobby for optics as the enabling technology of the 21st century, including seeking to influence European R&D policy. It coordinates optics conferences and publications in Europe; supports the dissemination of knowledge about the use and value of optics and related sciences to the general public, industry, media, and on the political level; and acts as the forum for the European professional and learned societies for the collection and dissemination of information, for the coordination of policies, and for joint ventures.
The EOS works to enhance the professional standing of individuals working in optics. It fosters the exchange of students and professionals, and promotes employment in optics throughout Europe. It promotes European educational standards in optics in education, training, and examination at all levels.
The EOS organises topical meetings, workshops and conferences, and endorsement of other scientific events, and runs focus groups for various application fields. It publishes the electronic journal JEOS:RP, and other electronic and printed newsletters, as well as offering a virtual platform for the European optics and photonics community on its website. It represents the optics and photonics community on the European-level technology platform Photonics21. Finally, it awards the annual EOS Prize [1] and the ‘EOS Early Career Awards’ for young photonics innovators. [2]
The EOS today has more than 4,500 societal, corporate, individual, associate and student members from all over Europe and worldwide.
21 national optical societies are members: 10 are EOS Branches, and 11 are societies affiliated to the EOS. [3]
EOS Branches include DGaO (Germany), FOS (Finland), SFO (France), IOP Optical Group (UK and Ireland), SSOM (Switzerland), SOS (Sweden), SIOF (Italy), HOS (Hungary), LOS (Latvia), and PhotonicsNL (The Netherlands).
EOS-affiliated societies include NPS-OD (Norway), DOPS (Denmark), Promoptica (Belgium), SEDOPTICA (Spain), SPOF (Portugal), PPS-OD (Poland), DOQE-RPS (Romania), CSSF (Czechia and Slovakia), WLT (Germany), USPAO (Ukraine), and LAS (Russia).
24 companies are corporate members of the EOS.
The EOS publishes the Journal of the European Optical Society: Rapid Publications (JEOS:RP), covering a wide range of research and education in optics and photonics.
Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in the form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing.
Optica, founded as the Optical Society of America, is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals, organizes conferences and exhibitions, and carries out charitable activities.
The International Commission for Optics (ICO) was created in 1947 with the objective to contribute, on an international basis, to the progress and dissemination of the science of optics and photonics and their applications. It emphasises the unity of the crossdisciplinary field of optics.
SPIE is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It organizes technical conferences, trade exhibitions, and continuing education programs for researchers and developers in the light-based fields of physics, including: optics, photonics, and imaging engineering. The society publishes peer-reviewed scientific journals, conference proceedings, monographs, tutorial texts, field guides, and reference volumes in print and online. SPIE is especially well-known for Photonics West, one of the laser and photonics industry's largest combined conferences and tradeshows which is held annually in San Francisco. SPIE also participates as partners in leading educational initiatives, and in 2020, for example, provided more than $5.8 million in support of optics education and outreach programs around the world.
Julio César Gutiérrez Vega is a Mexican physicist who has done pioneering work on wave propagation of optical fields; in particular, he introduced the Mathieu family of non-diffracting optical beams and the Helmholtz-Gauss beams —a parabolic family of non-diffracting optical beams— with Miguel A. Bandrés. His research work is done with the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education’s Optics Center, of which he is the director. This work has been recognized with membership in Mexican Academy of Sciences and Level III membership in the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores.
The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) is the international membership body and learned society for marine professionals operating in the spheres of marine engineering, science, or technology. It has registered charity status in the UK. It has a worldwide membership of over 12,000 individuals based in over 128 countries. The institute is a member of the UK Science Council and a licensed body of the Engineering Council UK.
Allan Dawson Boardman was a British physicist, known for his work on surface plasmons and guided wave optics, especially nonlinear waves, solitons, magneto-optics and negative refracting metamaterials. He was a theorist and numerical analyst in these areas, especially magneto-optics and metamaterials. In 2006 he was made a fellow of the Optical Society of America for his contributions in these fields and for "exemplary leadership and service to the optics community".
The European Physical Society (EPS) is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote physics and physicists in Europe through methods such as physics outreach, supporting physicists to engage in the design and implementation of European science policy, and advocating physics research. Formally established in 1968, its membership includes the national physical societies of 42 countries, and some 3200 individual members. The Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, the world's largest and oldest organisation of physicists, is a major member.
The Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) performs basic research in optical metrology, optical communication, new optical materials, plasmonics and nanophotonics and optical applications in biology and medicine. It is part of the Max Planck Society and was founded on January 1, 2009 in Erlangen near Nuremberg. The institute is based on the Max Planck Research Group "Optics, Information and Photonics", which was founded in 2004 at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, as a precursor. The institute currently comprises four divisions.
The IEEE Photonics Society, formerly the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS), is a society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), focused on the scientific and engineering knowledge about the field of quantum electronics. In the hierarchy of IEEE, the Photonics Society is one of the close to 40 technical societies organized under the IEEE Technical Activities Board.
Susan Nicole Houde-Walter is both an academic and executive with technical background in optical physics and engineering. Her specialties include laser physics, optoelectronics, optical materials, and imaging science, with applications in national security. She has traveled extensively with the United States military and served on science and policy boards, including the Army Science Board, the Department of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, the Intelligence Science and Technology Expert Group | National Academies, and the National Defense Industry Association board on Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict.
LIA - The Laser Institute is an international professional society with a focus on laser applications and laser safety. LIA was founded on February 7, 1968, as the Laser Industry Association, and acts as secretariat to the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) Z136, which develops and maintains the Z136 series of laser safety standards. LIA is publisher of these American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z136 laser safety standards, which provide the foundation of laser safety programs nationally.
The International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies 2015 or International Year of Light 2015 was a United Nations observance that aimed to raise awareness of the achievements of light science and its applications, and its importance to humankind. IYL 2015 opening ceremonies was held on 19–20 January 2015 in Paris.
Photonic Sensors is an international journal and has been available online as an Open Access publication since 2011. It is co-published quarterly by the University of Electronic Science & Technology of China (UESTC) and Springer. Photonic Sensors publishes original, peer-reviewed articles that report on new developments of interest to members of the photonics and sensor communities in all fields of photonic-sensing science and technology, including but not limited to topics on:
Maciej Lewenstein, is a Polish theoretical physicist, currently an ICREA professor at ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Castelldefels near Barcelona. He is an author of over 800 scientific articles and 2 books, and recipient of many international and national prizes. In addition to quantum physics his other passion is music, and jazz in particular. His collection of compact discs and vinyl records includes over 9000 items.
Nikolay Zheludev is a British scientist specializing in nanophotonics, metamaterials, nanotechnology, electrodynamics, and nonlinear optics. Nikolay Zheludev is one of the founding members of the closely interlinked fields of metamaterials and nanophotonics that emerged at the dawn of the 21st century on the crossroads of optics and nanotechnology. Nikolay's work focus on developing new concepts in which nanoscale structuring of matter enhance and radically change its optical properties.
Anurag Sharma is an Indian physicist and a professor at the department of physics of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He is known for his pioneering researches on optoelectronics and optical communications and is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz. Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and National Academy of Sciences, India as well as Indian National Academy of Engineering. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 1998.
Christine Silberhorn is a German physicist specialising in quantum optics and a full professor at the Paderborn University. In 2011, Silberhorn was awarded the Leibniz Prize and was the youngest recipient of the 2.5 million Euro prize at that time.
Anna Consortini is an Italian physicist in and a retired Professor of Physics at the University of Florence. She was a founder of the Italian Society for Optics and Photonics, and President of the International Commission for Optics from 1993 to 1996.