Evening and Keynote Speakers
18 - 23 May 2025
El Conquistador Tucson, A Hilton Resort
Tucson, Arizona USA
Evening Speaker
Barry Silverstein
Optics & Display Research Senior Director, Reality Labs
Unlocking the Potential of AR Glasses Through Novel Materials and Processes
Augmented reality (AR) glasses are poised to become a mainstream consumer product driven by smart glass use cases such as image visualization and AI-assisted information. To achieve comfortable all-day wearability in a glasses form factor, novel optical materials, coatings, processes and resonant structures are necessary. Inconspicuous displays must deliver images only to the user while minimizing artifacts caused by bright real-world light sources over visible bandwidths and exceptional angular ranges. These challenges increase with the display field of view. However, overcoming them will unlock the full potential of AR glasses, enabling users to experience more immersive and interactive content overlaid onto the real world. This talk will discuss technical advances in materials and coatings that serve this objective.
About the Speaker
Barry Silverstein is a Senior Director of Optics and Display Research at Meta's Reality Labs, leading the charge in developing cutting-edge displays for VR and AR. With a focus on creating the world's smallest and most efficient visual imaging systems, collaborates to push the boundaries of what's possible. Before joining Meta, Barry was Senior Research Director at IMAX, where he received an Academy Award for developing and commercializing IMAX with Laser technology, bringing the iconic IMAX experience to the world's largest screens. With 28 years of experience at Kodak's research laboratory, Barry is a seasoned expert in laser projection, imaging/printing, space imaging and optical recording. A graduate of the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester, Barry works to change the world through optics and imaging.
Keynote Speakers
Christopher Stolz
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
How Laser Fusion Power Generation Could Impact the Coating Industry
Achieving laser fusion ignition in 2022 has been a catalyst for the creation of multiple startup power companies. Commercialization of laser fusion will have a significant impact on the precision optics coating industry.
About the Speaker
Chris has worked for 35 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory specializing in high fluence coated optics for laser fusion. He is a Senior Member of Optica and SPIE Fellow with over 150 publications and 3 patents. He is active in conference leadership for OIC and the Laser Damage Symposium.
Christoph Zaczek
Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH
The Smaller the BIGGER — EUV Lithography Optics, Where Size Meets Precision
In the first half of 2024, the world's first EUV scanner for the High Numerical Aperture (NA) lithography was delivered to a semiconductor manufacturer, enabling a resolution of 8 nm in chip production. The optics that enable such resolution consist of aspherical mirrors up to one meter in size and are manufactured in series with a precision of sub-100-picometer.
About the Speaker
Christoph Zaczek is Head of Architecture Process Development Optics at Carl Zeiss Semiconductor Manufacturing and has been a ZEISS Fellow since 2019. With over 25 years of experience in optics process technology, he designs and develops optics process architectures for lifetime-stable, high-precision lithography optics, covering all aspects from contouring to coating. He received his master’s degree in physics from Portland State University in 1995, his diploma from the University of Stuttgart in 1998 and his PhD from the University of Ulm in 2005. He has been with ZEISS since 1998.
