Believe it or not, many of the mundane things we do every day involve the science of light. From watching television with our families to microwaving popcorn and using the internet, we are surrounded by a world that uses light waves and photons as a primary language, especially in our technologies.
That’s why it’s crucial to understand what photonics is and how it works. After all, this particular form of science is responsible for helping us understand how light waves and photons work so that we can continue advancement in a myriad of industries.
What Is Photonics?
In the most basic terms, photonics is the physical science and application behind detecting, generating, and manipulating light particles and waves. To successfully manipulate photons, scientists use the following methods:
- Emission
- Transmission
- Modulation
- Signal processing
- Sensing
Using these strategies, scientists can gain accurate measurements and other findings. With these results, they can then manipulate photons effectively to build and test the essential technologies that we use every day for quality assurance and safety.
This is because light has a dual nature—or a wave-particle duality. This duality gives light both the characteristics of a continuous electromagnetic wave and a particle (photon). Essentially, this knowledge is the baseline for photonics and its implementations. Photonics also plays a significant role in providing us with devices like such as cell phones, TVs, computer screens, smartphones, and even medical instruments.
Why Is It Valuable?
Of course, knowing standard information about photonics is only half the battle. If you truly want to grasp this incredible science, understanding why it’s so valuable is necessary. You see, light—and photons—are at work all around us.
From electronics like barcode scanners and remote controls to essential medical instruments and anything with a display, photons are constantly being manipulated, generated, and detected to provide us with uses in our everyday lives. Plus, photonics plays a major role in trailblazing innovations in other various fields and industries.
In short, photonics is applicable to any kind of tech that requires the precise use of light particles to function. Thus, its value as a science is incredibly significant, and furthermore, hard to match—especially considering how technologically centered we’ve become as a society.
What Are the Applications?
This form of science is essential to the continuing functionality and advancement of technology across the board. But fully answering the question of what photonics is and how exactly it works requires a brief mention of its numerous real-world applications—and there are many of them.
From everyday employments to the most advanced forms of physical science, photonics can be applied to any vocation that deals with the manipulation of light, including but not limited to:
- Consumer electronics: LED, quantum-dot, micro-LED displays
- Metrology: Testing color, luminance, time and frequency measurements, range finding, and other factors
- Military: Infrared (IR) night vision displays
- Telecommunications: Optical fibers, microwave technology
- Bio-photonics: Optical imaging for the study of biological molecules, cells, and tissues
Photonics is also applied to lighting and display, and testing special light measurement devices to test and measure color, luminance, and other factors. That’s why at Gamma Scientific, we pride ourselves on offering high-resolution photonic testing technology to provide quality assurance and safety testing equipment for display and lighting needs.
Hopefully, this brief overview provided some valuable information about the incredible nature of photonics and how it applies to our everyday lives. That way, you can appreciate the technologies, what they allow us to do, and the benefits companies and manufacturers can implement for end-user safety and streamlined processes, all while meeting industry standards.
