According to Eric Mottay, Photonics West 2026 has highlighted the shift from high-profile promises in fusion, quantum, and AI to the detailed engineering work making these technologies practical. Industry leaders emphasized that while innovation can happen quickly, technology maturation and real-world application require sustained effort and time.
As a wave on a winter beach, technology has a visible surge and a quieter retreat. We tend to focus on the first and misread the second. Over the last few years, our attention has been drawn to fusion, quantum, and AI, with their promise of far-reaching change.
And that’s still the easiest part to talk about. But are we at a point where the work is becoming less visible, even as engineering takes on more weight?
Fusion was a case in point, with a full session dedicated to the lifetime, cost and reliability of high-power diode pumps. Less future power plant blueprints, more detailed target design.
Quantum sensing is gradually moving to real applications: Alex Webber-Date from CPI presented results from a marine trial of a cold-atom inertial navigation system, combining quantum and classical sensors. Julien Laurat from Laboratoire Kastler Brossel focused on the components and interfaces needed for future quantum interconnects.
AI ran through the program, from photonic neural networks to laser processing and imaging. The demonstrations are convincing. The hard engineering work needed to bring them into the real world is less visible, but just as important: on the exhibition floor, an industry special event was dedicated to AI and robotics for precision agriculture. Online sensors combined with machine learning addressed concrete challenges in laser micro-processing and additive manufacturing.
The same perspective was shared by industry leaders: Jennifer Cable, CEO of Thorlabs, noted that innovation can happen overnight, while technology takes decades to mature.
On the business front, the Global Business Forum highlighted that photonics has grown roughly twice the global GDP rate over the past decade and is expected to continue doing so.
Regarding the current business environment, Kevin Wolfe, former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration, made a clear opening statement:
« I do not know what will happen. Everything I say could be wrong. »
See you next year to find out!
Eric Mottay, h-nu & Founder of Amplitude Laser
