Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast

Here is a great episode featuring Dr. Mario Paniccia, CEO and co-founder of silicon photonics startup ANELLO Photonics. He founded ANELLO with more than 20 years of experience under his belt at companies including Intel, where he started a silicon photonics program. And for this work, and his many other contributions to the field of silicon photonics, Dr. Paniccia was inducted into the National Ac...

This first episode of 2026 features Craig Bandes, president and CEO of next-generation nanomaterial developer/manufacturer Pixelligent Technologies. He has more than 25 years of experience as a CEO, entrepreneur, and investor covering industries including technology and defense.

As 2025 draws to a close, we're revisiting the year's interesting and intriguing interviews. Here are excerpts from the top 5 most popular Following the Photons episodes of 2025. Thank you all for your continued support! Cheers to a happy and prosperous 2026!  

Here's another edition of Light News! Join host Justine Murphy as she follows the photons into some of the coolest, most exciting news impacting the photonics industry.

Host Justine Murphy talked recently with Michele Nichols, president of Launch Team Inc., a strategic marketing firm that helps photonics-focused companies to navigate change and ultimately boost their competitive advantage. In this episode, Michele shares her perspectives on the state of the industry and where it’s headed, as well as some thoughts and hopes for the future.  

This episode features Dirk Hauschild, a Senior Strategic Marketing Expert with Focuslight Technologies. He talks with host Justine Murphy about his more than 30 years of experience in the design, development, and integration of micro-optical components and systems, his work with Focuslight, and his thoughts on the future.

In this second installment of a two-part episode, Dr. Aydogan Ozcan—a chancellor’s professor in the Samueli Electrical & Computer Engineering school at UCLA, where he also leads the Bio- and Nanophotonics Lab—reflects on some important lessons learned throughout his career that he’s passing on to the next generation of researchers, and we delve into what’s needed to keep the U.S. competitive g...

This week features another edition of Light News, a quick roundup of some of the coolest, most exciting news impacting the photonics industry. Let's go follow those photons!

Here, host Justine Murphy talks with Dr. Aydogan Ozcan, an extremely accomplished professor, lab leader, and mentor who has spent years studying and developing technologies in areas including computational imaging, deep learning optics, and microscopy. This first of a two-part episode dives into some interesting aspects of his work and experiences in the photonics industry.

This episode features a fun, insightful interview with Lee Steneken, president of Esco Optics. He’s a third-generation president of the family-owned company who moved up the ranks from a part-time machine operator during his high school years, to various roles in marketing and sales after college, before taking the helm as president in 2011. In this episode, he talks with host Justine Murphy about...

This week features a great interview with Dr. Tara Fortier, a project leader in the Time and Frequency Division at NIST, a role in which she oversees cutting-edge research in precision optical and microwave metrology, and laser source development. She’s heavily involved in the scientific community via organizations like the American Physical Society and Optica, and active participation in outreach...

This episode features Sargis Hakobyan, an R&D team leader with SPhotonix. He joined the company earlier this year to lead its new photonics lab in Switzerland, where he is the Senior Laser Materials Processing Engineer. Sargis is a multilingual laser physicist who has long focused in solid-state femtosecond and semiconductor laser development.

In this second installment of a two-part episode, Metalenz CEO Rob Devlin talks about what the future holds for the company and the industry overall, and offers some advice for others looking to take a similar path.

In this first of a two-part series, host Justine Murphy talks with Rob Devlin, co-founder and CEO of Metalenz. He has a PhD in applied physics from Harvard University, where he worked closely with Federico Capasso. The two ultimately founded Metalenz to commercialize their breakthrough research in metasurface optics.

This episode features Mohamed Elsherif, postdoctoral associate whose research bridges bioelectronics, optics, and nanomaterials to develop innovative wearable and ingestible devices for healthcare. 

Here's another roundup of some of the most exciting news happening in the photonics industry!

This week features host Justine Murphy’s thought-provoking discussion with Ifor Samuel and Andrea Di Falco, both professors and researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Together, they're working to revolutionize the use of organic LEDs and metasurfaces in a plethora of applications.

Here is a great interview with Jeroen Hoet, co-founder and CEO of eyeo, a new Netherlands-based startup that's working to revolutionize imaging.   

In this edition of Following the Photons, host Justine Murphy delves into the market sector of one of the photonics industry, with statistics, projections, and expert insight.

This episode features a roundup of some of the most interesting news impacting the business sector of the photonics and optics industry, from company collaborations to funding awards and more.

In this episode, host Justine Murphy talks with Nelufar Mohajeri, director of Membership and Community Development at SPIE, Peter Andersen, leader of the Biophotonic Imaging Group and head of DTU Health Tech PhD School at the Technical University of Denmark, and Stefan Andersson-Engels, who is head of Biophotonics and deputy director of the Irish Photonics Integration Centre at Tyndall National In...

This is the third and final installment of a multi-part series featuring optics and photonics industry pioneer Robin Hawk. In this episode, she talks with host Justine Murphy about some of the experiences she’s had throughout her schooling and career, and offers some expert insight into the future of the photonics and optics industry, and the overarching R&D umbrella.  

In this second installment of a multi-part series, Robin Hawk, an optics and photonics industry pioneer and CEO of Galxyz LLC, talks about the new company and the groundbreaking developments they’re already making, including nuclear diamond-powered photonics platforms.

This is the first of a multi-part series featuring Robin Hawk, a pioneer in the optics and photonics industry who has co-developed several technologies, including HDTV. She is now CEO of Galxyz LLC, a company she founded with her husband, Dan Hawk, where they’re developing next-generation technologies like nuclear diamond-powered ultraviolet quantum photonics platforms, end-to-end optical network...

With time constraints and other considerations, not everything from our Following the Photons podcast interviews makes the cut. So, in this episode, we’re sharing some never-before-heard excerpts from a few of those fascinating interviews. ****************************** If you’ve got a novel, innovative product or system, let us know! Laser Focus World’s Innovator Awards can help shine the spotlig...