50YFG : International Symposium - 50 Years of Fluoride Glasses

This symposium intents to review the state of art of both knowledge and applications of fluoride glasses. By the way, it will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of fluoride glasses in March 1974 at Rennes University. 50 years measure the time needed to move from laboratory to industrial production. For tis reason this symposium will attract companies involved in this technology. A major place will be granted to the research teams leading this world competition. The topics of Heavy Metal Fluoride Glasses (HMFG) led to more than 20000 papers, scientific documents, thesis and patents. It has been the subject of various books. Several companies have been created to develop fiber components in North America, Europe and Japan. Main fields of application relate to Astronomy, Medical and industrial fiber lasers, Multiwatt visible lasers, remote sensing, Mid-IR supercontinuum sources, Optical amplification for telecoms, Coupling to QCL and ICL for pollution measurements. The diversity of applications and the speed at which they are developing make them materials of the 21st century, destined to induce several technological revolutions.