ABSTRACT
The role of microelectronics in science and common life has given birth to three fields in optics: guided wave optics, optical computing, and binary optics (or more general, photolithographic technologies). Micro-optics is a commonly used term, although with ill-defined boundaries. The influence of microelectronics was direct, although not simultaneous, in achieving device geometry in the form of planar structures, in defining new goals pointing to optical computing, and in introducing new tools using planar technology.
