By: Pranab Kumar Deka

Light & optics is a major science and technology domain which, besides scientific or engineering functions, also affects human lives in numerous ways, in recognisation of which the UNESCO declared 2015 as the international year of Light and Light-based Technologies. The significance of the subject was so much of relevance to the last person in the society that the need for a sustained perusal was felt at a community level and thereby it was proposed by the Executive Board of UNESCO to continue and periodically reinforce the beneficiary aspects of the year of light celebrations, confabulations and exercises. The International Day of Light was proposed as a global initiative for the continued appreciation and exposition of light and the role it plays in science, culture and art, education and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications and energy. Thereby, May 16th, commemorating the successful operation of LASER by Theodore Maiman was selected as the International Day of Light. The light today is beyond its traditional perception of vision and lenses and is a family of applications arising out of the convergence of technological domains such as micromachining, microfabrication and electronics, thereby extending the bracket from just light to light-optical technologies-photonics.

Further, light-based technologies address applications ranging from simple to sophisticated such as automated taps in bathrooms and kitchen, indoor photosynthesis, safety & efficiency markings, forensic application, digital records, camera-aided monitoring and measurement,  general health and wellbeing applications apart from sophisticated devices used for medicine and surgery. It has become important that light-based technologies are viewed beyond science lab activity as a paradigm of going around about our activities. The declaration by United Nations in 2015 was a calling to upgrade our means and ways of doing things around, the way we utilize our time and resources and to incorporate light-based technologies in our scheme of things for the obvious benefits it holds out.

To work for the outreach of this goal and serve as a platform for the stakeholders is the motive of the day. While most of us are familiar with the advantages of lasers in medicine and surgery, barcode readers have come to assist in hygienic, accurate and faster commerce. Hand-held Refractometers have come to analyse food parameters and forensic detection within seconds. IR thermometer ensures non-contagious temperature measurement and so on. Light has come to play a major role directly or indirectly in almost all technical fields such as communication, shop floor management,  remote sensing, industry, food and agriculture, solar power and so on besides aiding research in science through instrumentation. Today, modern science and research is simply unimaginable without the use of optics or photonics being it simple or sophisticated. In Industries, lasers are employed for precision cutting, measurement and alignment and condition monitoring. Advances in spectroscopy and imaging science has tremendously aided research in advance metals and metallurgy, biology and medicine, virtual reality is expected to take up educational demonstration.

I remember reading in a journal in its career counsel column, a Query by a German student wherein the student was inquisitive of the prospect of general physics or optics for a branch of study. The counsel included exhaustive material on the pros and cons of both the subjects and the related career aspects. This indicates the stress, the developed countries are laying to optics as a specialized branch.

Optical component manufacturing needs to be infused with enthusiasm and startup pumping. Skill developments in this area need to be emphasized and optics study needs to be structured striking a balance of academic and industrial practice. The same is to be followed up by reinforcing with some technology incubation centers that will produce a pool of skilled professionals for optical & material processing and turn the optical component industry to a cottage industry on the lines of China, Taiwan and Korea, chalking another chapter of self reliance.  Can optics-photonics industry be a job spinner and can we have curated courses of study in optics- photonics and optical component manufacturing? Although trends are indicative of a yes, a realistic picture supported with figures shall emerge only if extensive interactive sessions are held at multiple levels. Thereby to channelize these opportunities and issues, symposium on light-based technologies, importance of optics-photonics, manufacturing and related issues need to be organized, inviting participation of industry, academia, commerce department & other bureaus. Keeping these objectives in view the International day of light is worthy to be observed at community level so that we can draw a roadmap for some positive initiatives.

But whom to sensitise and mobilise, how to initialize? Academia needs to interact more with industry. The industry needs to be progressive and reactive, marketing people needs to convince the policy-maker, policy-makers need to meet the stakeholders and create a conducive ecosystem and draw comprehensive policy for the promotion of the optics-photonics industry, community colleges and science center’s needs to inspire the use of light base techniques and the wide consumer base needs to be light savvy, inquisitive and enquire for more.

When the final outcome results in making technological advantages available and affordable to the last person, the vision and mission shall offer the fruits of an advanced society. (The writer is an M.Sc. in Electronics and can be reached via [email protected])