Optics and photonics are major enabling technologies that underpins scientific and technological advances in fields as wide ranging as information technology, energy, metrology, manufacturing, security, and healthcare
University of Oxford researchers at the forefront of development
From quantum photonics and metrology to super-resolution optical imaging, biophotonics, ultrafast spectroscopy, sensing, and laser processing, Oxford offers both a diverse range of expertise and a vibrant photonics community in which to study and work. The Photonics Network was set up by researchers in Chemistry, Engineering, Materials, Physics and biomedical departments, to organise optics and photonics related events and a range of interdisciplinary collaborative work. Activities started in 2011 and have been growing ever since.
Research in optical physics allows us to understand the basic properties of light and its generation from a fundamental starting point, as well as forming an important precursor to future technology
Photons
Photons provide both the briefest known events in the universe – optical pulses of order 10-16 seconds in duration – and the means to measure the age of the universe itself (1017 seconds) via the spectrum of microwave background radiation. The scope and use of photonics in the 21st century, over 50 years after the invention of the laser, is vast and continually expanding, as basic research in the generation, manipulation, interaction, and detection of light fuels scientific discovery, the creation of novel applications, and the invention and engineering of new materials and devices for use in our everyday lives.
