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Whereas the enabling technology of the 20th century was undoubtedly electronics, the 21st century is predicted to become the century of photonics.
The report “Harnessing Light for America’s Technological Future” prepared by the United States National Research Council was the product of an unprecedented effort to “bring together all aspects of the field of optics in one assessment organized around national needs”. The report recognizes optics (in its broadest sense) as an enabling technology pervasive in modern life, and identifies seven major areas of national interest that optics (photonics) enables:
Previously, the National Research Council (NRC) undertook the writing of an optics and photonics study in 1988, Photonics: Maintaining Competitiveness, and then again in 1998 with Harnessing Light: Optical Science and Engineering for the 21st Century. After 14 years of dramatic technical advances and economic impact, there was a need for another study that would help guide the nation’s strategic thinking in this area. Many other countries have developed their own strategic documents and organizations in the area of optics and photonics since 1998, and many have cited the U.S.’s Harnessing Light study as instrumental in influencing their thinking.
The most recent NRC report Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for our Nation found that optics and photonics provide critical enabling technologies across the U.S. and world economies. It addresses the updates that have taken place since Harnessing Light was published in 1998, as well as technological opportunities that have arisen since then, the state of the art in the U.S. and abroad, and recommendations for maintenance of U.S. global leadership. Optics and Photonics illustrates an encouraging trend for the world economy and its people, while providing a challenge to U.S. leadership in these areas
Report summary: “Harnessing Light: Optical Science and Engineering for the 21st Century”
http://www.photonics21.org/download/other_news/HLII-OpticsandPhotonics.pdf
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