Video Interview with Patrick Maine, CTO of LUMIBIRD, who worked alongside Gèrard Mourou to develop chirped pulse amplification.

In this video interview, Carlos Lee, Director General at EPIC (European Photonics Industry Consortium) talks with Patrick Maine, CTO of LUMIBIRD Group, about his career in the photonics industry.

Carlos: What made you opt for a career in photonics and how did you become CTO of LUMIBIRD?

Patrick: In my last year of my degree in physics, I studied a course on optics, which was very wave mathematical with a lot of complex calculations. But there was also a little bit of particle physics, which got me interested in the nature of light and motivated me to do PhD in optics at the Institut d'Optique Graduate School in France. After graduating in 1984, I heard about a French guy in the US who was looking specifically for a graduate from the Institut d'Optique that school, Institute of Optics. The person turned out to be none other than Gèrard Mourou, who last year received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on ultra-short optical pulses. To cut a long story short, having no family responsibilities and looking for some adventure, I accepted a research position with Gèrard Mourou helping to develop chirped pulse amplification. After three years, my wife and I moved back to France, and I got hired by laser manufacturer Quantel. I started doing laser research and rose up through the company in a number of positions. I first became R&D project manager followed by R&D group manager and then in 1998, I was appointed CEO of Big Sky Laser, a US diode-pumped laser company newly acquired by Quantel. Then came the financial crash in 2008, the market nosedived, and I was moved back to France to take up the position of Quantel Executive Vice-President. Finally, in 2018, I was appointed CTO of the newly formed LUMIBIRD group which was created by Quantel and Keopsys and has since become a world leader in laser technology in the defence, optical sensors, environment and medical sectors.

Carlos: What have been the ups and downs of your career?

Patrick: The most difficult situations have been when I’ve had to let go of people I’ve had a good working relationship with. Of course, when a company gets low on cash, redundancies have to be made, but whenever I’ve had to do it, I’ve tried to minimise the possibility of it happening again. The best memories are the satisfaction of finding solutions to some complicated problems, for example, working through the night with a team of colleagues to solve a problem with the fibre injection sealing I'd designed for a two-kilowatt flash lamp pump laser that had to be shipped to South Korea the following morning at 6am.

Carlos: How does the work of an R&D manager differ from being a CTO?

Patrick: Being an R&D manager is very operational, working with your team and managing people programs and budgets at a day-to-day level. You need to make sure you have the right human resources to accomplish the tasks you are given, whether it's an external customer or an internally funded program. Although you get time to solve high tech problems, a lot of time has to be spent on non-science issues, so you need to cultivate expertise in a number of areas. As the CTO at LUMIBIRD, I try to look a little bit beyond technology we’re currently using to what’s coming next, what else we can do with what we have, and what we need to learn to do things better. From a market perspective, I need to know how the technology is getting into our customers and try to anticipate what they're going to need next.

Carlos: Do you need an outgoing personality to be successful?

Patrick: Generally, yes, but it depends on the position. A very quiet person can be an excellent scientist and engineer and develop a program, but he/she cannot be an excellent manager. A good manager must be a good leader able to communicate, inspire and bring a team together. They also need to be strong and confident enough to interact with a variety of challenging situations and know how to deal with conflict in a positive and professional way.

Carlos: How can somebody succeed in getting noticed and making a successful company career in photonics?

1. Learn to spell correctly. I’m old school and one of the things that annoys me is poor spelling in a report or email. So, if you're looking for a job, be aware that the people who are going to hire you are people like me, so make an effort. It’s not just a technical issue, poor writing gives you and your company a bad image to the outside world.
2. Never hide the fact that you don't know something, at least in the technical area, if you want to be appreciated by your managers and peers. When you don't know, say “I don't know but I am going to look into it”. Making up stories is easily detectable and will give you a reputation as being unreliable.
3. Take every opportunity to show what you're capable of. When you're given tasks, do your best and ask for more. Show initiative and a state of mind that always wants to improve yourself and the company. Eventually, people will learn that they can rely on you and help you to grow and management will think about you when a new position or opportunity comes up.
4. To be successful in photonics you will have to interact with other specialists in areas such as chemistry, electronics, mechanical engineering and even plumbing. So even if you want to be very specialized and become the best in your field, invest time in learning other topics.
5. In business, things hardly ever turn out the way they were planned. The market may dive, good customers my fail and you can never be sure that what you have will continue, so it’s important to have multiple plans and to continually look for new markets and new opportunities and new customers, otherwise the company will shrivel.

Carlos: Finally, do you recommend young people take up a career in photonics?

Definitely: think about light, it’s simply magic.