Presentations now on-line.
See Programme page.

Advance notice MIOMD-9
7th - 11th September 2008, Freiburg, Germany

Also see MIOMD-8
14th-16th May 2007, Bad Ischl, Austria

The purpose of MIOMD-VII, the seventh international conference of this series, is to bring together both young and established scientists from around the world, to identify and discuss the most significant issues in the rapidly advancing area of mid-infrared optoelectronics in a stimulating forum that encourages the exchange of ideas and fosters collaborative relationships with the ultimate goal of enabling mid infrared optoelectronics as a mainstream technology.
The Mid-Infrared Optoelectronics - Materials & Devices conference (MIOMD) continues to be a popular and unique forum for device physicists, material scientists, applications engineers and end users to discuss the problems of importance in mid-infrared optoelectronics. The mid-infrared spectral region is of enormous interest as it contains the fundamental fingerprint absorption bands of a number of pollutant and toxic gases and liquids. For example, hydrocarbons (3.3µm), CO2 (4.6µm), CO (4.2µm), NOx (6.5µm) and SOx (7.3µm) require accurate, in situ multi-component monitoring in a variety of different situations (e.g. oil-rigs, coal mines, landfill sites, car exhausts) and in concentrations, ranging from ppb to almost 100%. The mid-infrared region also provides unique fingerprints with strong absorption bands for drug intermediates, pharmaceuticals, narcotics and biochemcials allowing highly selective and sensitive detection. Consequently, the mid-IR is very attractive for the development of sensitive optical sensor instrumentation in the fields of: environmental monitoring, bio-medicine, industrial process control and health & safety. In addition there is an atmospheric transmission window between 3 µm and 5 µm which enables free space optical communications and thermal imaging applications in both civil and military situations. But, the advantages of this wavelength range have not been fully exploited due to the limitations in current technology. Biochemical/chemical measurements need to be made in situ or at point of care to be useful and this requires miniaturised technology which is sensitive and inexpensive. Development of high bandwidth sources and detectors for optical fibre based telecommunications at wavelengths up to 1.55µm has achieved a high art. But, surprisingly, suitable sources and detectors for longer wavelength mid-infrared applications do not yet exist, and so wide exploitation of this spectral range has yet to take place.
Many of the necessary improvements are intimately tied to our immature ability to fabricate high-quality mid-IR materials and device structures, as well as our incomplete understanding of how to manipulate their optoelectronic properties. Mid-IR semiconductor quantum heterostructures that require precisely-controlled nanometer-sized layers significantly challenge the available growth and processing techniques, methodologies for band-structure modeling, characterization tools, and even the knowledge of fundamental materials parameters (such as band alignments, effective masses, etc.). In addition to these scientific challenges, the design of useful mid-infrared systems calls for careful evaluation of anticipated performance capabilities, and the applications requirements must be realistically conveyed to researchers who at this stage are generally still working at component level. Successful exploitation of the devices will also be dependant on dialogue between researchers and instrument engineers ensuring an appreciation of both the device performance limitations and the applications requirements. During the last few years, there has been tremendous progress toward the development of opto-electronic devices operating in the mid-infrared wavelength range. Mid-infrared lasers, light-emitting diodes, detectors, and frequency converters exhibiting improved wavelength agility and spectral purity, higher powers, and higher-temperature operation are beginning to emerge from the research phase and have the potential to enable a number of new applications.