From 30 August to 3 September 2026, Brno hosted the 18th International Conference on Near-Field Optics, Nanophotonics and Related Techniques (NFO18). Around 200 researchers from 22 countries presented current research in nanophotonics, plasmonics, near-field optics and related fields. The conference was organized by a team led by Prof. Tomáš Šikola from the Institute of Physical Engineering, FME BUT, and CEITEC BUT.
The NFO conference is typically held every two years and, since its establishment in 1992, has travelled between major research centres around the world. Following Victoria, Canada, and Melbourne, Australia, the conference returned to Brno this year, making it the first city in NFO history to host the event twice. NFO was first held in Brno in 1995.
The four-day scientific programme featured 125 talks and more than 50 poster contributions. The main topics included near-field optical microscopy and spectroscopy, plasmonics, dielectric nanostructures and metasurfaces, ultrafast and nonlinear optics, and quantum nanophotonics. Plenary lectures were delivered by Fritz Keilmann, Isabelle Staude, Peter Baum and Mark Brongersma, covering topics ranging from nanoscale imaging and spectroscopy and the control of light using metasurfaces to ultrafast electron dynamics and new approaches in biophotonics.
The main conference was preceded by a one-day NFO School at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology, attended by around 50 students and early-career researchers. Young scientists were also strongly represented in the main programme, with PhD students and early-career researchers from BUT among the recipients of the Best Talk and Best Poster Awards.
In addition to presenting the latest research results, NFO18 provided ample opportunities for scientific discussions, networking and establishing new collaborations. After more than three decades, the conference thus returned to Brno as one of the established international meeting points for the nanophotonics and near-field optics community.
Read more about NFO18 on the conference website or in the full article on the BUT website.
