Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation,detection,and manipulation of light in form of photons through emission,transmission,modulation,signal processing,switching,amplification,and sensing. Photonics is closely related to quantum electronics,where quantum electronics deals with the theoretical part of it while photonics deal with its engineering applications. Though covering all light's technical applications over the whole spectrum,most photonic applications are in the range of visible and near-infrared light. The term photonics developed as an outgrowth of the first practical semiconductor light emitters invented in the early 1960s and optical fibers developed in the 1970s.
Eli Yablonovitch is an American physicist and engineer who,along with Sajeev John,founded the field of photonic crystals in 1987. He and his team were the first to create a 3-dimensional structure that exhibited a full photonic bandgap,which has been named Yablonovite. In addition to pioneering photonic crystals,he was the first to recognize that a strained quantum-well laser has a significantly reduced threshold current compared to its unstrained counterpart. This is now employed in the majority of semiconductor lasers fabricated throughout the world. His seminal paper reporting inhibited spontaneous emission in photonic crystals is among the most highly cited papers in physics and engineering.
Photonic-crystal fiber (PCF) is a class of optical fiber based on the properties of photonic crystals. It was first explored in 1996 at University of Bath,UK. Because of its ability to confine light in hollow cores or with confinement characteristics not possible in conventional optical fiber,PCF is now finding applications in fiber-optic communications,fiber lasers,nonlinear devices,high-power transmission,highly sensitive gas sensors,and other areas. More specific categories of PCF include photonic-bandgap fiber,holey fiber,hole-assisted fiber,and Bragg fiber. Photonic crystal fibers may be considered a subgroup of a more general class of microstructured optical fibers,where light is guided by structural modifications,and not only by refractive index differences. Hollow-core fibers are a related type of optical fiber which bears some resemblance to holey optical fiber.
Sir David Neil Payne CBE FRS FREng is a British professor of photonics who is director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton. He has made several contributions in areas of optical fibre communications over the last fifty years and his work has affected telecommunications and laser technology. Payne’s work spans diverse areas of photonics,from telecommunications and optical sensors to nanophotonics and optical materials,including the introduction of the first optical fibre drawing tower in a university.
An optical fiber,or optical fibre,is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications,where they permit transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths than electrical cables. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss and are immune to electromagnetic interference. Fibers are also used for illumination and imaging,and are often wrapped in bundles so they may be used to carry light into,or images out of confined spaces,as in the case of a fiberscope. Specially designed fibers are also used for a variety of other applications,such as fiber optic sensors and fiber lasers.
Federico Capasso is an applied physicist and is one of the inventors of the quantum cascade laser during his work at Bell Laboratories. He is currently on the faculty of Harvard University.
Philip St. John Russell,FRS,is Emeritus Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen,Germany. His area of research covers "photonics and new materials",in particular the examination of new optical materials,especially of photonic crystal fibres,and more generally the field of nano- and micro-structured photonic materials.
The John Tyndall Award is given to the "individual who has made pioneering,highly significant,or continuing technical or leadership contributions to fiber optics technology". The award is named after John Tyndall (1820-1893),who demonstrated for the first time internal reflection.
Robert D. Maurer is an American industrial physicist noted for his leadership in the invention of optical fiber.
The University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences,considered the largest institute for optics education in the United States,is dedicated to research and education in optics with an emphasis on optical engineering. The college offers more than 90 courses in optical sciences,and a Bachelor of Science degree in Optical Sciences and Engineering,Masters and Doctoral degree programs in Optical Sciences,as well as a dual master's degree in Optical Sciences and Business Administration. The college also offers comprehensive distance learning courses leading to a Professional Graduate Certificate or a master's degree and markets non-credit short courses on DVD to optics professionals.
The IEEE Photonics Society,formerly the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS),is a society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE),focused on the scientific and engineering knowledge about the field of quantum electronics. In the hierarchy of IEEE,the Photonics Society is one of the close to 40 technical societies organized under the IEEE Technical Activities Board.
Robert William Boyd is an American physicist noted for his work in optical physics and especially in nonlinear optics. He is currently the Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate in Quantum Nonlinear Optics based at the University of Ottawa,professor of physics cross-appointed to the school of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Ottawa,and professor of optics and professor of physics at the University of Rochester.
David A. B. Miller is the W. M. Keck Foundation Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University,where he is also a professor of Applied Physics by courtesy. His research interests include the use of optics in switching,interconnection,communications,computing,and sensing systems,physics and applications of quantum well optics and optoelectronics,and fundamental features and limits for optics and nanophotonics in communications and information processing.
Prof. R K Sinha is the Vice Chancellor of Gautam Buddha University,Greater Noida,Gautam Budh Nagar Under UP Government. He was the director of the CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIR-CSIO) Sector-30C,Chandigarh-160 030,India. He has been a Professor - Applied Physics,Dean-Academic [UG] &Chief Coordinator:TIFAC-Center of Relevance and Excellence in Fiber Optics and Optical Communication,Mission REACH Program,Technology Vision-2020,Govt. of India Delhi Technological University Bawana Road,Delhi-110042,India.
David R. Clarke is a material scientist and the inaugural Extended Tarr Family Professor of Material Science and Applied Physics at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). He is the principal investigator of the Materials Discovery and Applications Group.
Jonathan C. Knight,is a British physicist. He is the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) for the University of Bath where he has been Professor in the Department of Physics since 2000,and served as head of department. From 2005 to 2008,he was founding Director of the university's Centre for Photonics and Photonic Materials.
Arti Agrawal is a scientist and engineer known for her work on computational photonics as well as diversity,equity,and inclusion in STEM;she has been recognized in both of these areas by a number of awards. Her research is focused on numerical modeling and simulation of photonic devices and optical components. Agrawal is currently serving as Associate Professor and the Director of Women in Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Technology Sydney and Associate Vice President of Diversity for the IEEE Photonics Society.
Kathleen Ann Cerqua-Richardson is an American physicist and the Pegasus Professor of Optics &Photonics,Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Central Florida. She is a Fellow of SPIE,the American Ceramic Society and The Optical Society. Her research considers the synthesis and characterisation of novel glasses and ceramic materials.
Linn Frederick Mollenauer (1937–2021) was an American physicist who worked on quantum optics,including the study of solitons in fiber optics.
Alexander Luis Gaeta is an American physicist and the David M. Rickey Professor of Applied Physics at Columbia University. He is known for his work on quantum and nonlinear photonics. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society,Optica,and of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
