What is Photonics?

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Broadly speaking, the manipulation of electrons in the form of devices became widely known as 'electronics'. It is perfectly reasonable, therefore, to think of any manipulation of photons, which are the particles of light, as 'photonics'. Everybody is familiar with optics and the beautiful applications that are involved, so the word 'optics' has tended to stay with us but the word 'photonics' is gaining currency throughout the world. A reasonable compromise in terms of language is to retain both the words 'optics' and 'photonics'. As the 21st century proceeds the word 'photonics' is becoming more and more popular. This is the name given to the new DTI Knowledge Transfer Network.

It is extremely encouraging for the UK that Lord Sainsbury, in July 2006, officially initiated the DTI Photonics Strategy. In spite of the definitions discussed above, it is clear that many people are using the generic term 'photonics' to cover any system that happens to involve photons. It is equally clear that photonics is set to be the main technology driver of the 21st century. To make sure that the UK creates and maintains a significant world position in photonics is going to require considerable organisation.