What is optics?

Optics – a science, a technology, and a career!

Optics is the field of science and the area of economic activity encompassing the physical phenomena and technologies associated with the generation, transmission, manipulation, detection, and utilisation of light. It extends on both sides of the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum as far as the same concepts apply.

Although we may not realise it on a daily basis, optics comes into play in a number of fields and tools, such as:

• lasers,
• ophthalmology,
• telecommunications,
• metrology,
• quantum optics,
• CD-ROMs,
• spectroscopy,
• optical materials,
• optical sensors,

More information can be found at:

http://spie.org//x30116.xml?WT.svl=mdde13