Photonics is one of the fastest growing high-tech industries in the world today. It includes
optical communications (e.g., fiber optics, lasers, and infrared links),
optical
imaging (e.g., spy and weather satellites,
night vision, holography, flat screen display,
and CCD
videocameras),
optical data storage and optical computing (e.g., CD’s and DVD’s),
optical detectors (e.g., supermarket scanners, medical optics, and nondestructive evaluation of materials),
lasers
(e.g., welding lasers, laser surgery, laser shows, and laser
rangefinders)
spectroscopy (e.g., chemical and biological detection, anti-terror detection)
and
quantum
optics (e.g., quantum teleportation,
quantum
cryptography, and single-photon optics)
The electronics industry underlies most of our present technology, but electronics has nearly reached its speed limit. As the demand for faster speed increases, the need for systems based on photons grows. The future is in photonics!
Although the Photonics
industry
is growing rapidly, photonics companies have a hard time finding
qualified
people because it is an interdisciplinary field crossing Physics,
Physical
Chemistry, and Electrical Engineering. The photonics certificate
program at the University of Pittsburgh will give this kind of
cross-cutting
experience and allow students to move directly into the photonics
industry.
Be an insider in the technology of the future!