Plenary Speakers

Gerd Leuchs studied physics at the Universities of Cologne and Munich. After research stays in the USA and in Germany, and after 5 years in industry in Switzerland, Gerd Leuchs became full professor of physics at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany in 1994. Since 2009 he was director at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (from 2019 director emeritus) and since 2012 he is professor adjunct at the University of Ottawa. He is member of two academies, holds two honorary degrees and is fellow of three learned societies. He won the 2005 QEOD Prize of the European Physical Society and the 2018 Herbert Walther Prize, a joint award by Optica and DPG. In 2012 he was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 2018 he was appointed member of Bavaria’s Maximilian Order. In 2024 he served as president of Optica.

Sufficiently attenuating a light field reveals the quantum nature of light, even for thermal light, which is the prototypical classical light source: There is a distinct difference between the following different types of intensity correlation functions: (1) the auto correlation function obtained by measuring an intensity time series with a single detector and calculating the correlation function numerically; and (2) the Hanbury Brown & Twiss type cross correlation function, for which the signal beam is first split, then measured with two detectors, finally correlating the two different measured intensity signals, The difference can only be explained by considering a true quantum effect: the projection associated with a quantum measurement, which generally leads to loss of information [JOSA B 43, 1318 (2026)]. A second measurement is needed to reveal the quantum nature of the first one as in (2). In addition, this demonstrates the non-zero commutator of the quantum field operators.

Julie Bentley received her BS degree in optics from the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester in 1990. She also received her PhD from the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester. Her PhD thesis focused on the integration of the design and manufacture of gradient-index optical systems. After graduating she spent two years at Hughes Aircraft Co. in California designing optical systems for the defense industry and twelve years at Corning Tropel Corporation in Fairport, New York, designing and manufacturing precision optical assemblies such as micro lithographic inspection systems. She started teaching at the University of Rochester in 1998. Her main teaching interests include geometrical optics, optical design, and tolerancing.

Dr. Burn J. Lin is the Dean of the College of Semiconductor Research at National Tsing Hua University. He holds Distinguished Research Chairs at the National Tsing Hua University, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and National Taiwan University. From 2011 to 2015 he was a Vice President and the Sole Distinguished Fellow at TSMC, Ltd., which he joined in 2000 as a Senior Director. Earlier he held various technical and managerial positions at IBM in the US, after joining in 1970. He has been extending the limit of optical lithography for half a century. Dr. Lin is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, Academician of Academia Sinica, ITRI laureate, IEEE and SPIE Fellows, Distinguished alumni of Ohio State University and National Taiwan University.

In 1963, lithography printed 100-$\mu$m features with light at 436-nm wavelength ($g$-line). Fifty years later, lithography printed sub-20-nm features with light at 193-nm wavelength. The features are more than 5000 times smaller. The spatial density has been improved by more than $2.5 \times 10^7$ times! How could optical lithography exceed the Rayleigh resolution limit $0.61 \lambda / NA$ and depth of focus (DOF) limit $0.5 \lambda / NA^2$? How can it extend to sub-10 nm?Innovations in lithography technology that made this impossible task possible are reviewed. They include dry optical lithography, resolution enhancement techniques (RET), immersion lithography, multiple patterning, EUV lithography, and non-optical lithography.The key to going beyond 1 million times improvement in spatial density is continuous innovation in light sources, optics, materials, processing, and system engineering, pushing optical lithography far beyond its traditional perceived limits.

Dr. Shin-Tson Wu is a Trustee Chair Professor at CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics. Prior to joining UCF in 2001, he was with Hughes Research Laboratories (Malibu, California) where the first laser and liquid-crystal-on-silicon were invented. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Southern California (Los Angeles) and BS in Physics from National Taiwan University (Taipei). His research interests at UCF focus on augmented reality and virtual reality, including light engines (mini-LEDs, micro-LEDs, and OLEDs), optical systems (lightguide, diffractive optics, and projection optics), and display materials (liquid crystals, quantum dots, and perovskites).

Dr. Wu is a recipient of the IEEE Photonics Society Aron Kressel Award (2026), SPIE Dennis Gabor Award (2026), SID Lawrence Tannas Award (2025), UCF Medal of Societal Impact (2024), OPTICA (formerly OSA) /IS&T Edwin H. Land Medal (2022), SPIE Maria Goeppert-Mayer award (2022), OPTICA Esther Hoffman Beller Medal (2014), SID Slottow-Owaki Prize (2011), OPTICA Joseph Fraunhofer Award (2010), SPIE G. G. Stokes Award (2008), and SID Jan Rajchman Prize (2008). He has co-authored 7 books, 710 journal papers and 340 conference papers, and obtained 106 issued US patents. His publications have accumulated over 62,000 citations, with an h-index of 119.

Dr. Wu is an Academician of Academia Sinica (2022), a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2012), a member of the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida, and one of the first six inductees to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame (2014). He is a Fellow of the IEEE, OSA, SID and SPIE. In the past, he served as the founding Editor-In-Chief of IEEE/OSA Journal of Display Technology, OSA Publications Council Chair and OSA Board of Directors, and SID Honors and Awards committee chair.