ABSTRACT
Photonics is the science of light photon generation, detection, and manipulation for any purpose. The term photonics derives from the word photon, which, in turn, derives from the Greek word meaning light. Photonics, as a formal discipline, essentially, came into being in the early 1960s with the invention of LASERs. It matured rapidly and by the 1980s was a staple in the development of all forms of technology involving light in the visible, infrared, and ultraviolet wavelength ranges. Major drivers of the development were military as well as medical and commercial applications ranging from basic communications to sophisticated computational systems.
