One of the motivations for studying photorefractive materials, effects and devices is the great potential for using photorefractives to create practical, commercial devices. Despite the fact that this potential has been evident since the pioneering days of photorefractive research there has, until recently, been only limited commercialization of photorefractive based devices.

At the PR’97 meeting in Japan it was suggested by Dana Anderson, with the intention of motivating increased efforts toward practical devices, to create a prize for the "Best Application". The suggestion was well received and a number of people at the meeting spontaneously contributed towards funding such a prize. At the PR’99 meeting in Denmark, the prize was first awarded to Marvin Klein and Serguei Stepanov.

For the upcoming PR’01 meeting in Wisconsin, Chair David Nolte has appointed Klein and Stepanov as Chairs of the Prize Committee. We are pleased to announce that the contributions made earlier, as well as matching funds from Purdue University, will enable us to present a cash award in the amount of $2,000 for the best photorefractive application at PR’01. The award will be presented at the PR’01 conference dinner.

The term application is meant broadly and applications at a number of stages of development will be considered. Criteria which will be used to judge entries include:

• Originality of the idea
• Importance of the practical problem
• Quality of scientific publications
• Extent of past recognition (invited talks, trade magazine articles......)
• Extent of commercialization

Candidates wishing to compete for the prize should submit the following to the PR’01 conference secretary before the start of the meeting:

• Two-page description
• References
• Product brochures (if applicable)
• Other supporting material

The following committee will select the prizewinner:

• Marvin Klein, Co-Chair
• Serguei Stepanov, Co-Chair
• Dana Anderson, Past Chair
• Cornelia Denz
• Demetri Psaltis
• Per-Michael Johansen
• Kazuo Kuroda

Applications should be submitted as follows:

• By e-mail attachment to both co-chairs by the end of the day Friday, July 6
• Seven hard copies to Conference Secretariat at PR’01 by 9 AM, July 9

Marvin Klein (mbklein@lasson.com)

Serguei Stepanov (steps@inaoep.mx)