PHOTONICS CHINA EXPO puts the optoelectronics chain on one floor and runs it from the material end to the finished system: infrared materials, detectors and thermal imaging; lasers and the machines that cut, weld and mark with them; precision optics from crystal and coating through lens and module; optical communication, fibre sensing and data transmission; measurement and control instruments; micro and nano fabrication; and the semiconductor devices behind them.

Its visitors reflect that breadth. Engineers and buyers come from aerospace, shipbuilding, automotive, electronics, telecommunications, medical devices, chemicals, energy, metallurgy and machine tools, and alongside them come universities, national laboratories and research institutes — a mix the organiser counts as a research-driven buying audience.