Photonics, the science of light, generates, detects and controls photons, harnessing the power of light energy. We can thank photonics for our flat-panel computers, HDTVs, smart phone displays, fast tele-communications lines, and even laser surgery. Imagine the looming benefits of personalised medicine, where photonics is used to analyse your genetics and determine your best treatment options. Yes, the future of photonics is bright, pardon the pun, and is highly relevant for any students considering a career in physics. Targeted at Years 7-10 teachers, this presentation from A/Prof David Lancaster from The University of Adelaide’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing outlined the scientific principles behind photonics, how it is being used currently and the problems it could help to solve in the future. Potential career paths and in-class activities were also discussed. For more information on the event head to http://ow.ly/A369P

1. IPAS Institute for Photonics &
Advanced Sensing
Associate Professor David Lancaster
David.lancaster@adelaide.edu.au

2. www.ipas.edu.au
 Photonics controls, uses and manipulates light
 Photonics is made up of many different technologies:
optics, quantum electronics, lasers, detectors, fibres, materials…
 Photonics is essentially photon engineering
 Electronics revolutionized the 20th century, photonics is doing the same
in the 21st

3. The natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible (the web)

4. www.ipas.edu.au
• Light is energy
• Light is electromagnetic radiation
• Light has both wave-like and particle-like properties
• Light interacts with materials and structures

5. Full mirror Partial mirror
Laser medium

6. Excited level
Ground level
Atom in
excited level
E = h c / 
Incident photon
Before
emission
During
emission
After
emission
E1
E2
h : Planck’s constant
6.626 x 10 -34 j.s
c : speed of light
Laser
mirrors
Pump light

7. • Daniel Colladon first described this "light
fountain" or "light pipe" in an 1842
article entitled On the reflections of a ray
of light inside a parabolic liquid stream.
• Modern fibres guide light by total internal
reflection in ultra-pure glass fibres
• World fibre production is 24 million kms/ year

8. • Data storage
• The internet
• Fibre sensors
• Laser radars
• Laser machining
• Defence
• Molecular sensing

9. Chemical detection fibre
• fuel quality sensor
• hydrogen peroxide monitor in human eggs
• 125 µm fibre (human hair width)
• < 4 µm core
• Allows light to travel in core (on a light rail !)
• Light interacts with outside environment

14. 91 Day Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project
This was the third phase of testing of regenerative life support systems
which included a crew of four volunteers living in an air tight chamber
environment for 91 days. This work at the Johnson Space Center is in
preparation for possible human expeditions away from Earth orbit.
Phase I of the Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project began on Sept. 19,
1997. This phase used a combination of physical, mechanical, chemical
and biological methods to recycle all the air and water used by the
crew and to use plants grown in a connecting chamber to provide
some of their food. Regenerative life support is a critical enabling
technology for future space missions, since astronauts cannot carry all
the supplies necessary to support a trip to Mars or an extended stay
on a base on the Moon.

15. Developed by D. Richter, D.G. Lancaster, F.K. Tittel

16. θ= tan−1 R
distance
m=1 (1st order)
= 1.6μm × sin
R
R2 + distance
= 643nm