Photonics
branch of physics related to the technical applications of light
Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in the form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Even though photonics is a commonly used term, there is no widespread agreement on a clear definition of the term or on the difference between photonics and related fields, such as optics.
Photonics is closely related to quantum optics, which studies the theory behind photonics' 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.
The field is also supported by professional organizations such as the IEEE Photonics Society, which serves as a conduit for advances in photonics research, engineering, and its applications.
History
The word 'Photonics' is derived from the Greek word "phos" meaning light (which has genitive case "photos" and in compound words the root "photo-" is used); it appeared in the late 1960s to describe a research field whose goal was to use light to perform functions that traditionally fell within the typical domain of electronics, such as telecommunications, and information processing.
An early instance of the word was in a December 1954 letter from John W. Campbell to Gotthard Gunther:Incidentally, I've decided to invent a new science — photonics. It bears the same relationship to Optics that electronics does to electrical engineering. Photonics, like electronics, will deal with the individual units; optics and EE deal with the group-phenomena!
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Photonics” is branch of physics related to the technical applications of light. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Photonics, branch and physics, not as a finished interpretation.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q467054. The Library of Congress control number is sh85101397. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1954.
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This entry incorporates text from “Photonics” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.