Open AccessMicro‐Optics: From High‐End to Mass‐Market
Author(s) -
Voelkel Reinhard
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
optik & photonik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2191-1975
pISSN - 1863-1460
DOI - 10.1002/opph.201190060
Subject(s) - photonics , automotive industry , photon , key (lock) , space (punctuation) , telecommunications , electronics , engineering , electrical engineering , engineering physics , computer science , physics , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , optics , aerospace engineering , materials science , computer security , operating system
Photonics is said to be the most important key technology in the 21 st century, some even call the 21 st century the “photon century”. It might be a bit too early to name a whole century after it, but indeed, photon‐based technology has much impact on our everyday life at the beginning of the new century. Chip manufacturing, lighting, health care and life‐sciences, space, defense, and the transport and automotive sector rely on photon‐based technology. Photonics is also supposed to offer novel solutions where today's conventional technologies reach their limits in terms of velocity, capacity and accuracy.