Light and its many applications have revolutionized society through medicine, communications, entertainment and culture. Light and photonics are poised to become key enabling technologies of the future.
Light plays a vital role in our daily lives and is an imperative cross-cutting discipline of science in the 21st century. It has revolutionized medicine, opened up international communication via the Internet, and continues to be central to linking cultural, economic and political aspects of the global society. For centuries light has transcended all boundaries, including geographic, gender, age, culture and race, and is a tremendous subject to motivate education.
What is Photonics?
Look around you – your phone, computer, TV – all are modern-day technologies made possible largely by photonics. Optics and photonics are the science and application of light. Specifically, photonics generates, controls and detects particles of light to advance manufacturing, robotics, medical imaging, next- generation displays, defense technologies, biometric security, image processing, communications, astronomy and much more.
Photonics in Everyday Life
Light underpins the technologies of daily life; from smartphones, laptops and the Internet to medical instruments and LED lighting, all are possible because of photonics . The 21st century will depend as much on photonics as the 20th century depended on electronics to solve the challenges of a modern world.
