The National Photonics Initiative calls for the US to invest in developing new optical technologies.
"Photonics" encompasses a broad range of light-based technologies emerging from advances in different fields of physics, including materials science, quantum optics, atomic and molecular physics, laser science, and biophysics. Just as physics has benefited photonics, photonics has benefited physics. Many technologies that physicists use depend on photonics, including laser guide stars, CCD detectors, gravity wave interferometers, sub-diffraction limit microscopy, and laser cooling. The application of those technologies has led, in turn, to advances in robotics, medical imaging, defense technologies, biometric security, communications, and more.
Most physicists can understand and appreciate the link between the underlying science and the resulting technologies of applications such as lasers, computers, the Internet, GPS, and high-resolution displays. For the average citizen, however, the connection is hard to make. Few people realize the extent to which optics and photonics technologies are present in their daily lives—when they drive a car, ride in an airplane, talk on a cell phone, use a computer or tablet, watch a video on cable TV or the Internet, listen to the radio, review the results of an x-ray or MRI scan, print a document, or buy food at a grocery store.
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