Editing Biophotonics (section)

{{For|the spontaneous low-level emission of photons from living tissues|Biophoton}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2011}}
The term '''biophotonics'''<ref>{{Citation | title= Handbook of Biophotonics. Vol.1: Basics and Techniques | last1= Popp | first1= Jurgen | last2= Tuchin | first2= Valery | last3= Chiou | first3= Arthur | last4= Heinemann | first4= Stefan H. (eds) | publisher= Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA | year= 2011 | isbn= 978-3-527-41047-7 | page= 686 | url= https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Handbook+of+Biophotonics%3A+Vol+1%3A+Basics+and+Techniques%2C+Volume+1%3A+Basics+and+Techniques-p-9783527410477 | access-date= 2020-06-05 | archive-date= 2020-06-05 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200605012617/https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Handbook+of+Biophotonics%3A+Vol+1%3A+Basics+and+Techniques%2C+Volume+1%3A+Basics+and+Techniques-p-9783527410477 | url-status= dead }}</ref> denotes a combination of [[biology]] and [[photonics]], with photonics being the science and technology of generation, manipulation, and detection of [[photon]]s, [[quantum]] units of [[light]]. Photonics is related to [[electronics]] and [[photons]]. Photons play a central role in  information technologies, such as fiber optics, the way [[electrons]] do in electronics.

Biophotonics can also be described as the "development and application of optical techniques, particularly imaging, to the study of biological molecules, cells and tissue".<ref>{{cite journal | last= Goda | first= Keisuke | title= Biophotonics and beyond | journal= APL Photonics | issue= 5| date=2019 | volume= 4 | page=050401| issn=2378-0967|doi = 10.1063/1.5100614| bibcode= 2019APLP....4e0401G |doi-access= free}}</ref> One of the main benefits of using the optical techniques which make up biophotonics is that they preserve the integrity of the biological cells being examined.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/innovation/groups/biophotonics/index.aspx |title=King's College London Centre for Biophotonics |access-date=2012-09-27 |archive-date=2017-01-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102172153/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/innovation/groups/biophotonics/index.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=SPIE|title=Gabriel Popescu plenary talk: Bridging Molecular and Cellular Biology with Optics|journal=SPIE Newsroom|date=2015|doi=10.1117/2.3201503.18}}</ref>

Biophotonics has therefore become the established general term for all techniques that deal with the interaction between biological items and photons. This refers to emission, detection, absorption, reflection, modification, and creation of radiation from biomolecular, cells, tissues, organisms, and biomaterials. Areas of application are [[life science]], [[medicine]], [[agriculture]], and [[environmental science]].
Similar to the differentiation between "[[electric]]" and "[[electronics]]," a difference can be made between applications such as [[therapy]] and [[surgery]], which use light mainly to transfer energy, and applications such as [[diagnostics]], which use light to excite matter and to transfer information back to the operator. In most cases, the term biophotonics refers to the latter type of application.