Photonics: The Science of Light that Shapes Our Modern Technological World

Thursday, 4 June 2020 • 12–1 p.m.

Photonics is the science of harnessing light. Light is an integral part of nature and the key enabler of life. Since the beginning of history, humans understood the value of light and devised ways of producing it and using it to improve their quality of life. Over the last few decades, though, the science of light has been pushed to horizons never imagined before. Environmentally friendly and cost-effective lighting offered by LEDs, optical fiber-based broadband Internet, wireless telecommunications (4G, 5G, and beyond), photonic sensors for our smartphones, and self-driving cars, but also high-power lasers enabling industrial manufacturing, precision medicine, and nuclear fusion, are just a few examples. Photonics science has received more than twenty Nobel Prize awards over the years but is also a key enabling technology that drives a trillion-dollar business. In this presentation, we will be reviewing some of these technological advances and their impact, including related research performed at Texas A&M University at Qatar.