Photonics
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Photonics is a branch of
History
The word 'Photonics' is derived from the Greek word "phos" meaning light (which has genitive case "photos" and in compound words the root "photo-" is used); it appeared in the late 1960s to describe a research field whose goal was to use light to perform functions that traditionally fell within the typical domain of electronics, such as telecommunications, information processing, etc.[citation needed]
An early instance of the word was in a December 1954 letter from John W. Campbell to Gotthard Gunther:
Incidentally, I’ve decided to invent a new science — photonics. It bears the same relationship to Optics that electronics does to electrical engineering. Photonics, like electronics, will deal with the individual units; optics and EE deal with the group-phenomena! And note that you can do things with electronics that are impossible in electrical engineering![3]
Photonics as a field began with the invention of the maser and laser in 1958 to 1960.[1] Other developments followed: the laser diode in the 1970s, optical fibers for transmitting information, and the erbium-doped fiber amplifier. These inventions formed the basis for the telecommunications revolution of the late 20th century and provided the infrastructure for the Internet.
Though coined earlier, the term photonics came into common use in the 1980s as fiber-optic data transmission was adopted by telecommunications network operators.[
During the period leading up to the
Relationship to other fields
Classical optics
Photonics is closely related to
Modern optics
Photonics is related to
The term photonics more specifically connotes:
- The particle properties of light,
- The potential of creating signal processing device technologies using photons,
- The practical application of optics, and
- An analogy to electronics.
The term
An important aspect in the modern definition of Photonics is that there is not necessarily a widespread agreement in the perception of the field boundaries. Following a source on optics.org,[5] the response of a query from the publisher of Journal of Optics: A Pure and Applied Physics to the editorial board regarding streamlining the name of the journal reported significant differences in the way the terms "optics" and "photonics" describe the subject area, with some description proposing that "photonics embraces optics". In practice, as the field evolves, evidences that "modern optics" and Photonics are often used interchangeably are very diffused and absorbed in the scientific jargon.
Emerging fields
Photonics also relates to the emerging science of quantum information and quantum optics. Other emerging fields include:
- Optoacoustics or photoacoustic imaging where laser energy delivered into biological tissues will be absorbed and converted into heat, leading to ultrasonic emission.
- Optomechanics, which involves the study of the interaction between light and mechanical vibrations of mesoscopic or macroscopic objects;
- Optomics, in which devices integrate both photonic and atomic devices for applications such as precision timekeeping, navigation, and metrology;
- Plasmonics, which studies the interaction between light and plasmons in dielectric and metallic structures. Plasmons are the quantizations of plasma oscillations; when coupled to an electromagnetic wave, they manifest as surface plasmon polaritons or localized surface plasmons.
- terahertz.
- electronic FPGA
Applications
Applications of photonics are ubiquitous. Included are all areas from everyday life to the most advanced science, e.g. light detection,
Just as applications of electronics have expanded dramatically since the first
- Consumer equipment: barcode scanner, printer, CD/DVD/Blu-ray devices, remote control devices
- Telecommunications: fiber-optic communications, optical down converter to microwave
- Renewable Energy: Solar power systems
- Medicine: correction of poor eyesight, laser surgery, surgical endoscopy, tattoo removal
- Industrial manufacturing: the use of lasers for welding, drilling, cutting, and various methods of surface modification
- Construction: laser leveling, laser rangefinding, smart structures
- Aviation: photonic gyroscopes lacking mobile parts
- Military: IR sensors, command and control, navigation, search and rescue, mine laying and detection
- holographic art
- Information processing
- Passive daytime radiative cooling
- LIDAR, sensors for consumer electronics
- Metrology: time and frequency measurements, rangefinding
- quantum computing
Microphotonics and nanophotonics usually includes
Overview of photonics research
The science of photonics includes investigation of the
Light sources
Photonics commonly uses semiconductor-based light sources, such as
Characteristic for research on semiconductor light sources is the frequent use of
Transmission media
Light can be transmitted through any
Amplifiers
Optical amplifiers are used to amplify an optical signal. Optical amplifiers used in optical communications are
Detection
Photodetectors detect light. Photodetectors range from very fast photodiodes for communications applications over medium speed charge coupled devices (CCDs) for digital cameras to very slow solar cells that are used for energy harvesting from sunlight. There are also many other photodetectors based on thermal, chemical, quantum, photoelectric and other effects.
Modulation
Modulation of a light source is used to encode information on a light source. Modulation can be achieved by the light source directly. One of the simplest examples is to use a flashlight to send Morse code. Another method is to take the light from a light source and modulate it in an external optical modulator.[9]
An additional topic covered by modulation research is the modulation format.
Photonic systems
Photonics also includes research on photonic systems. This term is often used for optical communication systems. This area of research focuses on the implementation of photonic systems like high speed photonic networks. This also includes research on optical regenerators, which improve optical signal quality.[citation needed]
Photonic integrated circuits
Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are optically active integrated semiconductor photonic devices. The leading commercial application of PICs are optical transceivers for data center optical networks. PICs were fabricated on III-V indium phosphide semiconductor wafer substrates were the first to achieve commercial success;[10] PICs based on silicon wafer substrates are now also a commercialized technology.
Key Applications for Integrated Photonics include:
- Data Center Interconnects: Data centers continue to grow in scale as companies and institutions store and process more information in the cloud. With the increase in data center compute, the demands on data center networks correspondingly increase. Optical cables can support greater lane bandwidth at longer transmission distances than copper cables. For short-reach distances and up to 40 Gbit/s data transmission rates, non-integrated approaches such as vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers can be used for optical transceivers on multi-mode optical fiber networks.[11] Beyond this range and bandwidth, photonic integrated circuits are key to enable high-performance, low-cost optical transceivers.
- Analog RF Signal Applications: Using the GHz precision signal processing of photonic integrated circuits, radiofrequency (RF) signals can be manipulated with high fidelity to add or drop multiple channels of radio, spread across an ultra-broadband frequency range. In addition, photonic integrated circuits can remove background noise from an RF signal with unprecedented precision, which will increase the signal to noise performance and make possible new benchmarks in low power performance. Taken together, this high precision processing enables us to now pack large amounts of information into ultra-long-distance radio communications. [citation needed]
- Sensors: Photons can also be used to detect and differentiate the optical properties of materials. They can identify chemical or biochemical gases from air pollution, organic produce, and contaminants in the water. They can also be used to detect abnormalities in the blood, such as low glucose levels, and measure biometrics such as pulse rate. Photonic integrated circuits are being designed as comprehensive and ubiquitous sensors with glass/silicon, and embedded via high-volume production in various mobile devices. [citation needed] Mobile platform sensors are enabling us to more directly engage with practices that better protect the environment, monitor food supply and keep us healthy.
- LIDAR and other phased array imaging: Arrays of PICs can take advantage of phase delays in the light reflected from objects with three-dimensional shapes to reconstruct 3D images, and Light Imaging, Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) with laser light can offer a complement to radar by providing precision imaging (with 3D information) at close distances. This new form of machine vision is having an immediate application in driverless cars to reduce collisions, and in biomedical imaging. Phased arrays can also be used for free-space communications and novel display technologies. Current versions of LIDAR predominantly rely on moving parts, making them large, slow, low resolution, costly, and prone to mechanical vibration and premature failure. Integrated photonics can realize LIDAR within a footprint the size of a postage stamp, scan without moving parts, and be produced in high volume at low cost. [citation needed]
Biophotonics
Biophotonics employs tools from the field of photonics to the study of biology. Biophotonics mainly focuses on improving medical diagnostic abilities (for example for cancer or infectious diseases)[12] but can also be used for environmental or other applications.[13][14] The main advantages of this approach are speed of analysis, non-invasive diagnostics, and the ability to work in-situ.
See also
- Nano-optics
- OP-TEC
- Optronics/optoelectronics
- Organic photonics
- Bio-inspired photonics
- Photonics mast (on submarines)
- Photonic radar
- European Photonics Industry Consortium
- IOWN Global Forum
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-08-049926-0.
- ISBN 978-0-471-79158-4.
- ISBN 9780931150197.
- ^ Responsive Photonic Nanostructures: Smart Nanoscale Optical Materials, Editor: Yadong Yin RSC Cambridge 2013 https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/ebook/978-1-84973-653-4
- ^ Optics.org. "Optics or photonics: what's in a name?". Optics.org.
- ^ "Sea mouse promises bright future". BBC News. 2001-01-03. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: - YouTube
- ISBN 978-0-470-39459-5.
- S2CID 125975031.
- ISBN 978-0-12-397235-4.
- ISBN 978-87-93609-22-8.
- PMID 28188076.
- S2CID 203924741.
- S2CID 25510308.