Hyderabad, 25 April 2023.

Mahindra University’s Ecole Centrale School of Engineering (India) and Ecole Centrale group of institutions (France) have successfully concluded the Indo-French Conference on Frontiers in Photonics and Metamaterials-2023 (IFCFPM) after three days of insightful and inspiring discussions. The conference, held at Mahindra University, brought together over 100+ attendees from India and around the world, including leading academicians, industry professionals, young scientists, and enthusiastic students.

The IFCFPM provided a platform for experts and researchers to share their innovative contributions and challenges in the fields of Photonics and Metamaterials, with the ultimate goal of inspiring innovation in this rapidly evolving field. The event featured 11 plenary talks and several parallel sessions on Optics, photonics, Terahertz, and high-speed communications, which focused on the cutting-edge research and innovations in the respective fields. Budding research students also had the opportunity to showcase their work in poster presentations, which allowed them to share their research with leading experts from around the world. 

Prof Dibakar Roy Chowdhury (FInstP (UK)), HOD, Department of Physics at Mahindra University said “IFCFPM allowed exposure to Photonics based next-generation discoveries with potentials in shaping future technologies that can influence all aspects of life”.

According to Professor Nikolay Zheludev, Deputy Director, Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, UK and Director, Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies (CDPT), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, “The IFCFPM was a perfectly organized international meeting at the very attractive location of Mahindra University. It has attracted some of the most prominent researchers in photonics and metamaterials from India, USA, Europe, Singapore, and Australia”.

Prof. Miguel A. Alonso Professor, Centrale Méditérranée and Institut Fresnel, Marseille, France said “This event was a great opportunity for scientists from India, France, and many other countries to exchange ideas and establish new connections in an intimate setting. The topics discussed were varied but interconnected, so that all presentations were of interest to all participants. I congratulate the organizers for their excellent work, and I thank them for inviting me to be a part of it.”

The Hon’ble Chief Guest of the conference, Consul General of France, Mr. Thierry Berthelot, inaugurated the conference and addressed the gathering where he elaborated on the thriving Indo-French collaborations in research and development. Intense technical presentations followed by discussions were pursued by the leading photonics and optics community people. Prof. David Payne (University of Southampton), Prof. Miguel Alonso (University Marseille), Prof Nikolay Zheludev (NTU Singapore and University of Southampton), Prof. Venugopal Achanta (Director, NPL New Delhi), Prof. S SPrabhu (TIFR Mumbai), Prof. Siddharth Rama Chandran (Boston University, USA), Prof. Arseniy Kuznetsov (A*STAR Singapore) are few of the eminent speakers who enthralled the audience with their enlightening talks.

The conference highlighted two key takeaways: Photonics or optics-based technologies are pathways for implementing high-speed 6G communications and the Terahertz frequency domain is an awesome technology that holds solutions to several problems that mankind is facing, for example, in homeland security, medical diagnosis, high-speed communications, etc. The IFCFPM has been a tremendous success, providing a unique opportunity for experts and researchers to network, share their research, and collaborate. The conference has opened new doors for research collaborations between India and France and has set the stage for future meetings/conferences to come.