Photonics

Photonics is a branch of science with an emphasis in physics. It covers the fundamentals and applications of optical methods and technologies in the areas of transmission, storage and processing of information. The word photonics is composed of the concept of photon ( light particle ) and the Greek suffix -ik ( customer, doctrine ). In a narrower sense photonics stands for optoelectronics. In a broader sense it is used on the communications technology out of nonclassical optical technologies, such as in the use of optical processors.

Areas

Photonics was initially developed primarily from optical communications, which has first, later replaced since the 1980s by the use of glass fibers as a transmission medium and the laser diode as can be modulated light source, the electrical transmission system in the telecommunications sector also at shorter distances. By further developing the fundamentals ( understanding of light propagation ) and the components ( light sources, modulators, detectors, and micro-and nano - optical devices and systems), the scope of photonics has greatly expanded in recent years. Today, the next photonics applications in the traditional fields of information technology ( transmission, storage and processing of information ) also refers to areas such as nanotechnology.

Research

Among the current research areas in the field of photonics includes the fabrication of micro - and nano - structured components. These are on the one hand light sources such as LED, OLED and laser on the side waveguide structures such as photonic crystals, plasmonic waveguides, and micro-optical components and systems towards photonic Save ( AOFF ).

Practice

One can divide the practical applications of the photonics roughly divided into four fields:

• Lighting and Displays
• Industrial production and quality assurance
• Information and Communication
• Life Sciences (see Biophotonics )

The optical communication over long distances with the help of glass-fiber -based networks is now commonplace. The fiber optic technology offers tremendous data capacity: currently finds the transmission in the fixed network at a wavelength of 1550 nm, with data rates of 2.5 Gb / s instead. By using the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM ) are possible transmission capacities up to the terabit / s range.

Current developments relate primarily to the area of ​​access to the fixed network, here is primarily the word " fiber to the home " (FTTH ) call, so participants with data rates up to 100 Mbit / s would be provided by home via fiberglass.

In production engineering and industrial manufacturing optical methods are traditionally used. This relates in part to the field of measurement technology for surface inspection and dimension measurement, using a variety of methods are used. Tags are interferometry, holography, optical distance measurement, etc. In the processing of materials has since the 1980s and 90s, the use of lasers for welding, cutting and drilling increased dramatically over traditional mechanical methods. The laser material processing, for example, in the automotive industry is an essential tool for fast, accurate and reliable manufacture of bodies. But even in the micro range laser procedures have been used for some time, the use of short pulses is interesting with pulse durations in the picosecond and femtosecond range.

In the field of life sciences ( this includes special areas of biology and medicine ) Biophotonics was coined in recent years the term. Optical methods here have additional significance obtained by expansion of microscopy to high-resolution techniques such as near-field microscopy. For the management of micro- and nano-scopic particles, the principle of optical tweezers is of great interest.

In the areas of lighting and display technology, optical methods and new components have major changes effected. In display technology in recent years, liquid crystal displays, the conventional CRT monitors have largely replaced. Similar drastic changes could lie ahead in lighting technology, where super bright LEDs ( light emitting diodes), partly on the basis of organic materials (so-called OLEDs), are, for lighting in and outside of buildings to be interesting.