Prof. Kenichi L. Ishikawa received the B.Eng. and M.Eng degrees in nuclear engineering from The University of Tokyo (Japan) in 1992 and 1995, respectively, and the Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) degree in physics from RWTH Aachen University (Germany) in 1998. He is currently a Professor at Department of Nuclear Engineering and Management, Graduate School of Engineering, as well as Research Institute for Photon Science and Laser Technology, and Institute for Attosecond Laser Facility, The University of Tokyo. He is concurrently Guest Professor at Osaka University since 2019. He was a Postdoctoral Researcher at CEA-Saclay from 1998 to 2000, a Special Postdoctoral Researcher at RIKEN from 2000 to 2002, an Associate Professor at The University of Tokyo from 2002 to 2008, a Senior Researcher at RIKEN from 2008 to 2009, and a Project Associate Professor at The University of Tokyo from 2009 to 2014.

He is internationally renowned for his contributions to numerical calculation and theoretical modeling of laser-matter interaction, ranging from strong-field physics, ultrafast laser science, attosecond science to laser processing. He is currently participating several national projects of Japan to promote smart laser manufacturing and, in particular, leading a nation-wide network project for proposing the optimal processing parameters using artificial intelligence and physical modeling in cyberspace. He is currently a member of The Engineering Academy of Japan (EAJ), The Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP), The Physical Society of Japan (JPS), The Laser Society of Japan (LSJ), Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ), OSA, APS, and SPIE among others.

Dr. Lloyd Hackel is Vice President for Advanced Technologies of Curtiss-Wright’s Metal Improvement Company.  This followed a 28-year career at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) where in his last position he headed the Program for Laser Science and Technology reporting to the Lab Associate Director.  Lloyd received a BS in Applied Mathematics and Engineering Physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1971 and a Masters of Science degree in 1973 and a year later the Doctor of Science degree in 1974 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is co-inventor of the laser used by Curtiss-Wright for commercial laser peening. His work at MIT focused on the development of frequency stable lasers for use in high resolution spectroscopy, as atomic clocks and gravity wave sensors. Lloyd and his team developed a high-power laser used by the US Air Force to illuminate and image satellites from the Starfire Optical Range, Kirkland Air Force Base NM. That laser proved very successful and was moved to the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing site at the Haleakala Observatory in Hawaii

Lloyd was a co-inventor of the laser system and leader of what is now the laser peening technology deployed by Curtiss-Wright’s Metal Improvement Company.  Lloyd has also innovated an advanced version of laser peening using multi-layer processing and thermal treatment for application to single crystal superalloys running at high temperature and in a corrosive environment. 

Lloyd is the author of numerous scientific publications and inventor or co-inventor of over 20 US and foreign patents.  He has been awarded five internationally recognized R&D 100 awards for innovative technology development, was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni of the University of Wisconsin- Madison Physics Department and was awarded three Federal Laboratory Consortium Awards by the US Department of Energy for excellence in technology transfer to industry. Lloyd was elected to the LLNL Innovator’s Hall of and serves as a member and has been Chairman of the Visitor Advisory Board for the University of Wisconsin Physics Department.

Dr. Yuji Sano is a professor at SANKEN, Osaka University, and a program manager (PM) at Institute for Molecular Science (IMS). He is leading a 10-year laser plasma acceleration project funded by the Japanese government (JST-Mirai). His project is developing technologies for laser plasma electron acceleration for FELs, ion acceleration for cancer therapy, and high-power compact lasers for particle acceleration. He has been involved in laser materials processing since 1994, and recently developed a portable laser peening (LP) system using a palmtop laser, which expands the application of LP.