What is Photonics? Photonics is the use of light energy for a variety of purposes – it is the technology that deals with the generation, transmission, manipulation, detection, and utilization of light energy. Photons are replacing electrons in may applications, most notably in digital communications.

Applications for Photonics “Imaging” Digital photography Medical imaging and surgical applications Laser sensing Surveillance and remote sensing (LANDSAT) Astronomy Opthalmology

Applications for Photonics Digital communications Optical fibre computer networks: “backbone” of internet is optical “Free space” satellite-to-ground, ground-to-satellite Communication between remote sites, such as mountain tops and valleys.

Applications for Photonics Industrial applications Robotic location sensing and vision Precision machining Integrated circuit manufacturing (photolithography) Precision surface and deflection measurements Gyroscopes for airplanes and other applications

Education in Photonics Practicing photonics engineers of the future will be educated in both electrical engineering and optical physics. Key topics you can expect to cover include: Geometrical optics Wave optics Quantum mechanics Signal processing Optical design Lasers Detectors Optical Systems Fiber optics Optical communications Optical lab experiments Signal processing Imaging Camera systems Remote sensing Computer networking

Careers in Photonics Who hires photonics engineers? Corning JDS Uniphase Bell Telephone Computer networking companies, such as CISCO Intell IBM Big push for the future - getting optical comm to the “last mile” of the internet (huge potential market!).