Abstracts due 9 July
Browse the Call for Papers
>
17 - 22 January 2026
San Francisco, California, US

Photonics West Best Paper and Best Presentation Awards

Honoring outstanding achievement by our researchers

Congratulations to the 2025 Award Winners


Award Name Award Recipient Paper/Presentation
3D Printing Best Paper Award in OPTO Chakoma, Shingirirai 13367-30, A flexible self-powered multi-nanomaterials 3D-printed triboelectric nanogenerator-based force sensor
3D Printing Best Paper Award in OPTO Ghandehari, Anita 13367-30, A flexible self-powered multi-nanomaterials 3D-printed triboelectric nanogenerator-based force sensor
3D Printing Best Paper Award in LASE Hayashi, Shuichiro 13350-12, Powder-bed-fusion-inspired additive manufacturing of freeform graphene aerogels via laser upcycling of biowaste hemoglobin protein
3D Printing Best Paper Award in BiOS Yang, Shuo 13304-8, Laser-engineered fiber for reconfigurable control of neural activity
Advanced Fabrication Technologies for Micro/Nano Optics and Photonics Best Paper Award Baghdasaryan, Tigran 13381-41, Triangular cross-section multimode interference couplers in polymer enabled by 3D printing
Advanced Fabrication Technologies for Micro/Nano Optics and Photonics Best Student Paper Award Fütterer, Laura 13381-35, Dispensing of microlenses under adjustable gravity
Advanced Photonics in Urology- BSC Best Paper Award Engelage, Lucas 13293-9, Deep learning-based detection of prostate cancer grades and chronic prostatitis in biparametric MRI
Advanced Photonics in Urology- BSC Best Paper Award Kang, Myungji 13293-2, Investigation on mechanism of wavelength-dependent laser on stimulative effects of prostate cancer
AI/ML Best Paper Award in LASE Chow, Pok Man 13353-40, A physics-informed machine learning model towards coherent and three-dimensional femtosecond laser beam shaping
AI/ML Best Paper Award in OPTO Roques-Carmes, Charles 13375-45, Stochastic computing with biased optical parametric oscillators
BaySpec Best Presentation Award Yang, Kangwen 13330-29, MHz broadband coherent anti-Stoke Raman scattering spectroscopy using optical time stretch
Best Paper Award Computational Optical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Sciences Wang, Zhaoqiang 13333-13, Kilohertz volumetric imaging of in-vivo dynamics using squeezed light field microscopy
Best Paper Award Computational Optical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Sciences Bezzam, Eric 13333-37, Robust lensless imaging under external illumination
Best Paper Award Computational Optical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Sciences Baek, Nakkyu 13333-36, Monocular lensless depth camera driven by end-to-end deep learning with a synthetic dataset
Best Paper Award Computational Optical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Sciences Simmerer, Corey 13333-79, Fundus imaging and defocus estimation using a phase-mask based fundus camera
Best Poster Award Computational Optical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Sciences Cook, Clare B. 13333-67, High-speed, 3D imaging with Fourier lightfield camera array mesoscope
Best Poster Award Computational Optical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Sciences Sun, Yuanyuan 13333-54, PHCam: built-your-own polar-spectral camera using photographic films to analyze polarization-sensitive biomedical samples
Biophotonics in Exercise Science Best Paper Award Bonetta-Misteli, Francesca 13313-21, Prediction of cardiovascular vital signs using laser speckle flow index signals from a wireless wearable device
Biophotonics in Exercise Science Best Paper Award Nouri Zadeh, Mehdi 13313-6, Utilizing near-infrared spectroscopy to monitor and assess muscle spasticity in children with cerebral palsy undergoing Botox treatment, a feasibility study
Emerging DMD Based Systems and Applications Best Paper Award Akkerman, Hylke B. 13383-2, High-resolution additive manufacturing for 3D multifunctional microelectronic devices
Emerging DMD Based Systems and Applications Best Student Paper Award Nero, Gregory M. 13383-6, Simulating the beam steering accuracy and efficiency of a pixelated micromirror phase light modulator
Fiber Lasers Best Student Presentation Award - First Place Palma-Vega, Gonzalo 13342-21, Comparison of TMI thresholds in non-PM and PM fibers
Fiber Lasers Best Student Presentation Award - Second Place Lenski, Mathias 13342-26, Pump noise transfer in a highly efficient, in-band pumped thulium-doped fiber amplifier
Fiber Lasers Best Student Presentation Award - Third Place Brockmüller, Eike 13342-46, Side-fused signal-pump combiner for triple clad fibers
Free-Space Laser Communications Best Student Presentation Award Kim, Taewon 13355-11, Phase noise compensation with highly-stabilized laser for long-distance free-space optical coherence communication
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics Best Student Presentation Award - First Place Rigere, Natalija 13353-2, Laboratory-scale production of tunable, narrow-bandwidth x-rays in the clinical energy regime
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics Best Student Presentation Award - Second Place Ilia, Denis 13353-41, Advanced pulse shaping for photoinjector lasers
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics Best Student Presentation Award - Runner Up Gualandi, Giulio 13353-36, Reconfigurable integrated photonic device to test Born’s rule
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics Best Student Presentation Award - Runner Up Chlebowski, Adrian 13353-21, Sensitive and accurate interferometric pulse characterization via two-photon absorption in Fabry-Pérot laser diodes
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics Best Student Presentation Award - Runner Up Frackleton, Leah 13353-20, Fringe-averaged collinear frequency-resolved optical gating: in situ characterization of ultrashort pulses in nonlinear microscopy
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics Best Student Presentation Award - Third Place Gierschke, Philipp 13353-31, 100 W-class, mJ-level, few-cycle source at 1.9 µm wavelength
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics Best Student Presentation Award - Runner Up Chow, Pok Man 13353-40, A physics-informed machine learning model towards coherent and three-dimensional femtosecond laser beam shaping
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics Best Student Presentation Award - Runner Up Kim, Changmin 13353-9, Investigating the application of adaptive optics in femtosecond filament-assisted remote sensing under atmospheric turbulence
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics Best Student Presentation Award - Runner Up Wang, Yueqi 13353-42, Spatial light shaping of uniform femtosecond laser filament for fabrication of Bragg grating arrays in optical fibers
Gabriel Popescu Award Matlock, Alex C. 13329-18, Snapshot sickle cell biophysical parameter recovery and analysis using Interferometric phase and amplitude microscopy (iPAM)
Gabriel Popescu Award Chung, Yoonjae 13329-16, Three-dimensional imaging of absorptive microscopic objects using partially coherent illumination
Gabriel Popescu Award Gao, Yunhui 13329-4, Exploiting spatiotemporal priors for motion-resolved computational microscopy
Hitachi Best Presentation Award Zhang, Yuxin 13330-18, Large-scale, single-shot quantitative polarization imaging with deep learning for label-free brain-wide analysis
LAMOM Best Student Poster Award Sumimoto, Takemasa 13350-35, Homogeneous periodic surface nanostructures formed by interference of square flattop femtosecond laser pulses
LAMOM Best Student Presentation Award Bran, Alexandra 13350-18, Engineering complex tissue-like scaffolds by two photon polymerization for testing cancer cell behavior in confined environments
Microfluidics, BioMEMS, and Medical Microsystems Best Paper Award Blagojevic, Alexander 13312-15, Advances in manufacturing next generation neurostimulation, cardiac rhythm management, and electrophysiology mapping catheter electrodes via femtosecond laser hierarchical surface restructuring
MOEMS and Miniaturized Systems Best Paper Award Payne, Alex P. 13382-1, Planar light valve: an 8192-channel MEMS-based spatial light modulator for high-speed amplitude and phase modulation
MOEMS and Miniaturized Systems Best Student Paper Award Nam, Heejun 13382-40, High-sensitivity colorimetric humidity sensor using nanostructured Fano resonator with ultra-wide color gamut
Multiphoton Microscopy Best Poster Award Galloway, Amanda 13324-63, Metabolic analysis of LDHB inhibition in breast cancer using fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy
Multiphoton Microscopy Best Poster Award Chen, Hao 13324-71, Two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy of autofluorescence under cellular differentiation
Multiphoton Microscopy Best Poster Award Wilson, Helen 13324-73, Experimental examination of long lifetime distributions as a factor of FLIM variability
Nippon Electric Glass Best Presentation Award Kobayashi-Kirschvink, Koseki J. 13330-30, High-speed Raman2RNA: Non-destructive prediction of single-cell expression profiles with total internal reflection Raman microscopy
Ocean Optics Young Investigator Award Wang, Zhongxiang 13336-29, Emulsion-assisted synthesis of ZnS:Mn2+ nanocrystals for biomedical optogenetics
Ocean Optics Young Investigator Award Swain, Sanskruti 13336-19, Bimetallic photonanozyme catalysts for fluorometric analysis of total antioxidant capacity in human saliva
Optical Biopsy Best Paper Award Gagnon, Justin R. 13311-49, Texture-analysis classification of intraductal carcinoma of the prostate using multimodal nonlinear optical imaging
Optical Biopsy Best Paper Award Mamani Reyes, Sandra 13311-30, Femtosecond optical Kerr effect in tissues: a new optical biopsy method
Optical Biopsy Best Paper Award Brandstetter, Markus 13311-21, Label-free nano- and microplastics detection in mammalian tissue by photothermal infrared spectroscopy
Optical Biopsy Best Paper Award De Winne, Jens 13311-12, Real-time assessment of graft oxygenation and perfusion using spectral imaging for improved outcome in esophageal cancer surgery
Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Domain Optical Methods in Biomedicine Best Paper Award Morishita, Rion 13305-2, Fusion of multiple dynamics-OCT contrasts for assessment of intratissue dynamics and visualization of dynamics-domain structures
Optical Coherence Tomography and Coherence Domain Optical Methods in Biomedicine Best Poster Award Shi, Yaping 13305-101, Adaptive contour-tracking to aid wide-field swept-source optical coherence tomography imaging of large object with uneven surface topology
Optical Elastography and Tissue Biomechanics Best Poster Award Schmidt, Ginger J. 13321-46, Asynchronous reverberant elastography for corneal elasticity measurements in vivo
Optical Elastography and Tissue Biomechanics Best Poster Award Deti, Anton 13321-54, Quantifying and optimizing curing parameters for PDMS microfabricated devices using Speckle rHEologicAl micRoscopy (SHEAR)
Optical Elastography and Tissue Biomechanics Best Poster Award Ambekar, Yogeshwari S. 13321-45, Full-field Brillouin microscopy using atomic line monochromator
Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Diagnostics, Treatment, and Environmental Applications Award Zolnacz, Kinga 13310-14, Multicore fiber modified via ablation and thermal treatment for lensless endoscopic imaging
Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Diagnostics, Treatment, and Environmental Applications Award Liang, Qizhong 13310-43, Mid-IR frequency comb cavity ringdown to simultaneously measure weakest and strongest absorption features over ultra-broadband coverage
Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Diagnostics, Treatment, and Environmental Applications Award Arteaga, Jorge 13310-26, Carbon dioxide detection using Raman spectroscopy inside of drilled hollow core fibers
Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Diagnostics, Treatment, and Environmental Applications Award Zhang, Zhenyu 13310-2, Fiber Bragg grating-based tactile sensing tool for minimally invasive surgery
Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Diagnostics, Treatment, and Environmental Applications Award Gallerani, Alessia 13310-5, An enhanced measuring instrument for in-line and real-time blood-pCO2 monitoring using a custom-developed gas-exchange filter
Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Diagnostics, Treatment, and Environmental Applications Award Aiba, Kiiko 13310-17, Mid-infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy detecting continuous ultrasound for non-invasive tissue component analysis
Optical Interactions Best Poster Award Mahapatra, Shivam 13317-45, Phototoxicity quantification by microtubule polymerization dynamics
Optical Interactions with Tissue and Cells Best Paper Award Harunani, Maysoon 13317-20, Establishing a causal link between the physiologic range of skin chromophore concentrations and physiologically relevant regions of CIELAB color space
Optical Interactions with Tissue and Cells Best Paper Award Roy, Aditya 13317-8, Rapidly accelerated numerical solvers using operator networks for performing laser-tissue optothermal simulations
Optical Interactions with Tissue and Cells Best Paper Award Tan, Kevin K. D. 13317-14, 4D Minecraft cell models from label-free optical imaging
Optical Interactions with Tissue and Cells Best Paper Award Hardenburger, Jacob 13317-28, Evaluating the effects of pulsed infrared light on dendritic spines of cortical neurons in vitro
OZ Optics Best Presentation Award Kanno, Hiroshi 13330-11, High-throughput FLIM flow cytometry with a continuous-wave laser
Pascal Rol Award Ruminski, Daniel 13300-25, Imaging the entire human vitreous body in vivo with synchronous OCT window scanning and adaptive focusing
Peninsula Medical Treatment Group Young Investigator Best Paper Award Monroy, Guillermo L. 13298-23, Cold microplasma exposure as a novel therapeutic treatment for bacterial otitis media: study results and conclusions in a small animal model
Peninsula Medical Treatment Group Young Investigator Best Paper Award Raghunathan, Shravan 13298-14, Correlated micro-spectroscopic labelling and analysis of leukocytes
Peninsula Medical Treatment Group Young Investigator Best Paper Award Feng, Yanfang 13298-16, Combating antibiotic resistance with photoactivatable multi-inhibitory liposomes
Photons Plus Ultrasound Best Paper Award Huynh, Nam Trung 13319-45, Imaging of perforators for flap surgery guidance using the Fabry Perot photoacoustic scanner
Photons Plus Ultrasound Best Paper Award Kim, Jaewoo 13319-38, High-performance photoacoustic and ultrasound endoscopy through transparent ultrasound transducer in vivo preclinical study of live pigs
Photons Plus Ultrasound Best Paper Award Zhang, Wei 13319-40, A clinical pilot study of ionizing radiation acoustic imaging for mapping radiation dose deposition deep into patient liver during radiation therapy
Photons Plus Ultrasound Best Paper Award De Santi, Bruno 13319-60, Image analysis of patient data from the hybrid photoacoustic-ultrasound tomography system PAM3
PicoQuant Best Paper Award Ortkrass, Henning 13326-13, Enhanced contrast mechanisms for live cell structured illumination microscopy via fluorescence lifetime imaging
PicoQuant Best Paper Award Gentsch, Gregor 13326-20, Nanotexture enabling computational multiplexing of super-resolved intracellular structures with high fidelity
Polarized Light and Optical Angular Momentum Best Student Paper Award Robinson, Demelza 13322-21, Uncertainty-aware Mueller matrix polarimetry using Gaussian process pipeline
Polarized Light and Optical Angular Momentum Best Student Paper Award Canabal-Carbia, Mónica 13322-6, Isotropic depolarization filter: outperforming biological samples imaging visualization via polarimetric data processing
Polarized Light and Optical Angular Momentum Best Student Paper Award Pei, JunZhu 13322-13, Multimodal imaging of cervical structures during pregnancy
Prizmatix Best Paper Award Katan, Michal 13335-5, Self-calibrated single-wavelength biosensor for measuring blood pressure
Prizmatix Best Paper Award Soudi, Mahdi 13335-12, Scalable plasmonic colorimetric sensor for on-site detection
Prospective Instruments Best Presentation Award Inutsuka, Yugo 13330-26, Single-shot computational phase nanoscopy visualizing organelles
Quantum Sensing Achievement Award Adibi, Ali Not paper related
Quantum Sensing Achievement Award Helmy, Amr S. Not paper related
Quantum Sensing Achievement Award Szerling, Anna Not paper related
Quantum Sensing Achievement Award Khodaparast, Giti A. Not paper related
Quantum Sensing Achievement Award Vitiello, Miriam S. Not paper related
Quantum Sensing Achievement Award Lu, Quanyong Not paper related
Quantum Sensing Achievement Award Wang, Hui Not paper related
Quantum Sensing Achievement Award Law, Kwok Keung Not paper related
Quantum Sensing Achievement Award Jarrahi, Mona Not paper related
Quantum Sensing Best Paper Award Ghadiri, Elham 13376-49, Advanced optical probes for ultrafast laser microscopy-spectroscopy to visualize photo-physics at nanoscale
Sustainability Best Paper Award in LASE Heebner, John E. 13358-21, Injection laser system architecture, upgrades, and future at the National Ignition Facility
Sustainability Best Paper Award in OPTO Munday, Jeremy N. 13361-25, Bridging the energy gap: converting radiative heat to power with passive cooling
Tokyo Instruments Best Presentation Award Vanuytsel, Steven 13330-25, Lens-free photonic integrated circuit for sub-diffraction resolution and large field-of-view fluorescence imaging
Translational Research Award Tofighi Zavareh, Amir 13316-17, Machine learning-enhanced wavelength detection for point-of-care optical devices in tissue oxygenation and peripheral arterial disease assessment
Translational Research Award Garrett, Ariane 13316-6, Speckle contrast optical spectroscopy improves cuffless blood pressure estimation compared to photoplethysmography
VECSELs Best Student Presentation Award Hirlinger-Alexander, Jakob 13346-17, A microchip semiconductor membrane external-cavity surface-emitting laser (μ-MECSEL)
Yokokawa Best Presentation Award Wu, Daniel 13330-17, Two-photon line excitation array detection (2p-LEAD) microscopy for monitoring in vivo neural activity