Photonics – the technology of light
Tom Ako
Photonics is concerned with the control of photons.
As a technology, photonics focuses on manipulating light to achieve some practical goals like telecommunication, sensing, industrial processing etc.
In photonics, photons are controlled in many ways e.g. switching, re-routing, modulation and amplification.
As semiconductors have become more important in optics, we have seen the emergence of hybrid fields where electronics and light come together.
For example, we have electro-optics: devices...