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The Photonics Frontiers Award 2026 magazine covers

The Photonics Frontiers Award 2026

The Photonics Frontiers Award 2026 shortlist has been released. 

This year's 16 finalists, across seven categories, offer a striking cross-section of where photonics is delivering measurable value today. Read about each application below and don't forget to join us at Optatec on May 6 to find out the overall winner.

Biophotonics and medical applications

An ultrasound and spectroscopic multimodal probe
Improving breast cancer diagnostics with multimodal photonics
Stefan Weber and Pouya Rajaeipour, CEO and CTO of Phaseform
Plug-and-play adaptive optics module for routine microscopy workflows
A surgeon, with their back to the camera, is carrying out brain surgery with the assistance of two screens showing polarimetric scans of the patient's brain tissue
Polarimetric imaging for tissue characterisation during brain tumour surgery

Defence / Aerospace / Space

Category sponsored by

La Croixx Precision OPtics logo
An artist's impression of a user looking at an AR/VR screen without helmet
Wavefront-shaping display to replace multi-monitor arrays
A golden optical modulator chip on a white background
Quantum dot InAs modulators to replace optical interconnects in space
Strategic stability: Combining conventional and CNC platforms to bridge the gap between initial prototypes and high-volume production (Credit: LaCroix Optics)
Partnering for innovation: Scalable manufacturing from prototype to production

Industrial imaging

Photonics Frontiers Award 2026 logo
Bringing nanometre surface metrology to the shopfloor
Early-stage collaboration ensures complex filter designs achieve the precise spectral separation required for real-world multispectral imaging in biological tissue
Collaborative filter design enables multispectral imaging
Accurate optical characterisation of AR coatings on solar glass is critical, where transmission differences of less than 0.1% can determine product quality classification (Credit: Avantes)
Precision metrology for AR-coated solar glass

Industrial laser systems

Two men stand behind a large robot arm containing a laser and imaging equipment
Using machine learning and a photonic 3D fingerprint to guarantee weld quality
A colour image of Mount Fuji created using laser marking on metal
Making inkless laser colour marking on metal commercially viable with closed-loop AI
Photonics Frontiers Award 2026 logo
Stabilising laser energy delivery with passive radial polarisation

Optical communications & data transfer

A golden integrated photonic chip held between metal tweezers
An integrated DWDM laser source for AI data centre optical interconnects
A Light Engine for Scaling Co-Packaged Optics
Overcoming AI's 'laser bottleneck' with Very Large Scale Photonics
Field-deployable LIBS analytical technology (Credit: Hamamatsu)
High-performance spectroscopy for field-ready LIBs systems

Quantum technologies & optical computing

A server rack unit
'World first' industry-ready photonic co-processor
Carlos Abellan, CEO and co-founder of Quside
Turning VCSELs' 'nuisance noise' into truly random quantum encryption

Sensing & measurement applications

A board-mounted InGaAs avalanche photodiode
Boosting infrared avalanche photodiode sensitivity with antimony
A small integrated circuit next to a quarter
Bringing velocity sensing to industrial robotics with chip-scale FMCW lidar
Photonics Frontiers Award 2026 logo
Closing the gap between lens design and reality with active MTF alignment
 

Join us in Frankfurt for the Award Ceremony of the Photonics Frontiers Award at Optatec 2026 | May 6 | 3:30 p.m. | Exhibitor Forum, Booth 625

 

Thanks to our Photonics Frontiers Award partners:

avo photonics logo
Avantes logo
Chroma logo
Discovery Semiconductors logo
Hamamatsu logo
La Croix logo
EPIC logo
Optatec logo
 

Media Partners