SPIE


SPIE is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It organizes technical conferences, trade exhibitions, and continuing education programs for researchers and developers in the light-based fields of physics, including: optics, photonics, and imaging engineering. The society publishes peer-reviewed scientific journals, conference proceedings, monographs, tutorial texts, field guides, and reference volumes in print and online. SPIE is especially well-known for Photonics West, one of the laser and photonics industry's largest combined conferences and tradeshows which is held annually in San Francisco. SPIE also participates as partners in leading educational initiatives, and in 2018, for example, provided more than $4 million in support of optics education and outreach programs around the world.

Former names

On July 1, 1955 SPIE was founded as the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers in California to specialize in the application of photographic instrumentation. In 1964 the society changed its name to the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.
In 1977 SPIE moved its headquarters to Bellingham, Washington, and in 1981 the Society began doing business as SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering to reflect a changing membership. In 2007, the society ended its DBA and is now referred to simply as SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

Conferences and exhibitions

SPIE Conferences and Exhibitions connect optical science and the optics retail industry. The society is affiliated with over 140 meetings and events each year.

Publications

The society's first publication, SPIE Newsletter, was launched in 1957. In 1959, the society published its first book, SPIE Photographic Instrumentation Catalog. The newsletter morphed into the society's first journal, now known as Optical Engineering, SPIE's flagship monthly journal. Throughout the years, SPIE has created many publications including journals, magazines, newspapers, websites, and books.
SPIE publishes:
All SPIE journals are peer-reviewed.
SPIE Press, the only independent, not-for-profit book publisher specializing in optics and photonics technologies, produces print monographs, handbooks, tutorial texts, and field guides, as well as electronic books and apps for mobile devices. Its origins date back to 1989 with the publication of The New Physical Optics Notebook.

Digital Library

The SPIE Digital Library publishes online technical papers from SPIE Journals and Conference Proceedings from 1962 to the present, as well as eBooks published by SPIE Press. There are more than 500,000 articles, with more than 18,000 new research papers added annually.

Photonics Focus

Photonics Focus is the Society's bimonthly membership magazine focused on photonics applications, career development, and the photonics industry. The magazine launched in January 2020 replacing SPIE Professional, which was the Society's quarterly magazine that covered optics industry insights, technology overviews, and career trends. It ran from 2006 through 2019.

SPIE Newsroom

The SPIE Newsroom is a technical news website launched in March 2006. The SPIE Newsroom covers technical developments in optics and photonics. SPIE Newsroom articles are based around 13 technical communities. The communities are Astronomy, Biomedical Optics & Medical Imaging, Defense & Security, Electronic Imaging & Signal Processing, Illumination & Displays, Lasers & Sources, Micro/Nano Lithography, Nanotechnology, Optical Design & Engineering, Optoelectronics & Communications, Remote Sensing, Sensing & Measurement, Solar & Alternative Energy.

SPIE Open Access

SPIE started an open access program in January 2013 to promote knowledge of technology and retail industry developments in optics and photonics. All articles published in SPIE journals for which authors pay voluntary page charges are freely accessible.

Awards

The society issues several awards: