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Photonics Engineer
Works with light-based technologies — lasers, fiber optics, LEDs, and optical sensors.
Did you know?
Theodore Maiman switched on the first working laser in May 1960. Today lasers scan barcodes, reshape eyes in surgery and carry internet data.
How subjects help
- Physics: Control how light bends and bounces so it can carry data down thin glass fibres.
- Mathematics: Calculate lens shapes and beam angles so a laser focuses to a tiny spot.
- Chemistry: Choose crystals and coatings that make LEDs glow or stop lenses reflecting glare.
A famous name
Charles K. Kao: Showed in 1966 that glass fibres could carry light signals, winning the 2009 Nobel Prize for fibre optics.
Try it yourself: Guess the object from its shadow
- With the room darkened, your friend holds one object between the torch and the wall. You only look at the shadow.
- Guess what it is. Which parts of the shape gave it away?
- Turn the object a different way. Does the shadow get easier or harder to read?
- Swap roles. Which objects were hardest to recognise, and why?
An X-ray picture is like a shadow: bones block more X-rays than skin. Radiologists and light engineers learn to read what shadows and light reveal.
Also try: Build a layered water filter.
Known for it in
USA, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France