Photonics

A Photonicsis a discipline dealing with fundamental and applied aspects of working with optical signals, as well as creating, on their basis, devices for various purposes [1] .

Content

• 1 General information
• 2 History of photonics
• 3 Interdisciplinary areas
• 4 Communication of photonics with other fields of science
  • 4.1 Classic optics
  • 4.2 Modern optics

General information

Photonics, in fact, is an analogue of electronics, using instead of electrons, quanta of the electromagnetic field - photons. That is, it is engaged in photon signal processing technologies, which is associated with significantly less energy loss, which means it has a greater possibility of miniaturization.

Thus, photonics:

• studies the generation, control and detection of photons in the visible and near-spectrum. Including, on the ultraviolet (wavelength 10 ... 380 nm), the long-wave infrared (wavelength 15 ... 150 microns) and the ultra-infrared part of the spectrum (for example, 2 ... 4 THz corresponds to a wavelength of 75 ... 150 microns), where quantum cascade lasers.
• deals with the control and transformation of optical signals and is widely used: from transmitting information through optical fibers to creating new sensors that modulate light signals in accordance with the slightest environmental changes [2] [3] .

Photonics covers a wide range of optical, electro-optical and optoelectronic devices and their various applications. The core areas of photonics research include fiber and integrated optics, including nonlinear optics, physics and technology of semiconductor connections, semiconductor and laser devices, optoelectronic devices, high-speed electronic devices.

According to some data, the new, generalized term “photonics” is gradually replacing the term “optics” [4] .

Photonics history

Photonics as a field of science began in 1960 with the invention of the laser, as well as the invention of the laser diode in the 1970s, with the subsequent development of fiber-optic communication systems as information transmission means using light methods. These inventions formed the basis for the telecommunications revolution at the end of the 20th century, and served as an aid to the development of the Internet.

Historically, the beginning of the use in the scientific community of the term "photonics" is associated with the publication in 1967 of the book by Academician A.N. Terenin "Photonics of Dye Molecules". Three years earlier, on his initiative, the Department of Biomolecular and Photonic Physics was established at the Physics Department of Leningrad State University, which since 1970 has been called the Department of Photonics. [five]

A. N. Terenin defined photonics as “a set of interrelated photophysical and photochemical processes”. In world science, the later and broader definition of photonics was spread, as a branch of science that studies systems in which photons are information carriers. In this sense, the term "photonics" was first heard at the 9th International Congress on High-Speed ​​Photography (Denver. USA. 1970).

The term “Photonics” began to be widely used *** in the 1980s in connection with the beginning of the widespread use of fiber-optic transmission of electronic data by telecommunication network providers (although optical fiber was used earlier in its narrow usage). The use of the term was confirmed when the IEEE community established an archive report called “Photonics Technology Letters” in the late 1980s.

During this period until about 2001, photonics was largely concentrated on telecommunications. Since 2001, it also began to include:

• laser production
• biological and chemical studies
• climate change and environmental monitoring [6]
• medical diagnostics and therapy,
• display and projection technology
• optical computing.

Interdisciplinary areas

Due to the high world scientific and technical activity and the huge demand for new results, new and new interdisciplinary areas are emerging inside photonics:

• Microwave photonics studies the interaction between an optical signal and a high-frequency (more than 1 GHz) electrical signal. This area includes the basics of the optical-microwave interaction, the operation of photon devices with microwave, photon control of microwave devices, high-frequency transmission lines and the use of photonics to perform various functions in microwave circuits
• Computer photonics combines modern physical and quantum optics, mathematics and computer technology and is at the stage of active development, when it becomes possible to implement new ideas, methods and technologies. [7]
• Optoinformatics is a field of science and technology associated with the research, creation and operation of new materials, technologies and devices for transmitting, receiving, processing, storing and displaying information based on optical technologies.

Communication photonics with other areas of science

Classic optics

Photonics is closely related to optics. However, optics preceded the discovery of quantization of light (when the photoelectric effect was explained by Albert Einstein in 1905). Optics tools are a refractive lens, a reflective mirror, and various optical nodes that were known long before 1900. At the same time, the key principles of classical optics, such as Huygens' rule, Maxwell's equations, and the alignment of the light wave do not depend on the quantum properties of light, and are used as in optics and in photonics.

Modern optics

The term "Photonics" in this area is roughly synonymous with the terms "Quantum Optics", "Quantum Electronics", "Electro-Optics", and "Optoelectronics". However, each term is used by various scientific societies with different additional meanings: for example, the term “quantum optics” often means basic research, while the term “Photonics” often means applied research.

see also

• Quantum optics
• Photonic crystal
• Holography
• Electronics