Editing Photonics (section)

{{Short description|Technical applications of optics}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2013}}
[[File:Prism flat rainbow.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Dispersion (optics)|Dispersion]] of [[light]] (photons) by a prism]]

'''Photonics''' is a branch of [[optics]] that involves the application of [[light generation|generation]], [[light detection|detection]], and manipulation of [[light]] in the form of [[photon]]s through [[Emission (electromagnetic radiation)|emission]], [[Transmission (telecommunications)|transmission]], [[modulation]], [[signal processing]], switching, [[optical amplifier|amplification]], and [[photodetector|sensing]].<ref name="Yeh2012">{{cite book|author=Chai Yeh|title=Applied Photonics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1kTInFpx8m8C&pg=PA1|date=2 December 2012|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-0-08-049926-0|pages=1–}}</ref><ref name="Quimby2006">{{cite book|author=Richard S. Quimby|title=Photonics and Lasers: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=82f-gIvtC7wC|date=14 April 2006|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-471-79158-4}}</ref> Even though photonics is a commonly used term, there is no widespread agreement on a clear definition of the term or on the difference between photonics and related fields, such as [[optics]].<ref name=":0" /> 

Photonics is closely related to quantum electronics, where quantum electronics deals with the theoretical part of it while photonics deal with its engineering applications.<ref name="Yeh2012"/> Though covering all light's technical applications over the whole [[light spectrum|spectrum]], most photonic applications are in the range of visible and near-[[infrared]] light. 

The term ''photonics'' developed as an outgrowth of the first practical semiconductor light emitters invented in the early 1960s and optical fibers developed in the 1970s.