R. Roy Landeryou’s research while affiliated with UK Department of Health and other places

This book is based upon a research project concerned with technological change and its implications for qualifications and employment. Technologies of light; or photonics; is defined as any methods, processes or products which make use of the spectrum of light, and any systems whose function is to study, measure, transform or transmit by means of light. It comprises the following topics, dealt with in the book: lasers, fiber optics and their accessories, systems for the capture, processing, classification and exploitation of image data.

The characteristics of electricity and electronics are based on the transportation of electric charge carriers and the resulting current. Electrically conducting media have achieved a high degree of performance in all applications of signal processing. The integration of electronic components to a very high level (VLSI — very large scale integration) determines the performance of modern computing and communication devices.

In the past few years the progress of laser technology has been characterized by drastic changes. Only a few years ago the laser had been considered a worthless invention of scientific interest at most, searching desperately for applications. Nowadays several thousand applications involving lasers have been established and application is booming. Corresponding to the broad area of application the market for laser products is continuously increasing. Growth rates between 15 and 30%, in special areas up to 100%/year, can be registered.

Real world observation and orientation by means of light has been a main factor in human evolution. It has been extended by the invention of communication symbols and information carriers which enable the conservation of descriptive copies of reality (e.g. hieroglyphs, language, images etc.).

The beginnings of laser technology in 1960, more than 25 years ago, reflect an evolutionary pattern that is perhaps similar to that of electricity or microelectronics. The laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation), a coherent optical radiation source, provides light as a power tool of energetic quality and as a sensorial means of information transmission. Thus laser radiation seems particularly well-suited to support new applications in the general areas of materials and information processing.

In an introduction to “LASER 87”, which is one of the leading laser-related exhibitions and congresses, the market for laser equipment had been estimated at US$ 11 billion in 1987, with more than 50 % allocated to printing applications. For the same time period other publications reported market forecasts that often differed substantially; in part based on different definitions of systems and applications, and also due to a variation in base points in the form of time and currency. The data presented here should not so much serve as an exact quantitative statement of the laser market but rather as an indicator of trends, economic implications and consequences for the laser industry.

Discoveries and inventions periodically cause new technological developments within human societies. Key inventions and their accompanying economic and social changes can be seen as the main promoters of technological and structural progress. Many examples of change can be traced back to key inventions.

Because of limitations of available text processing resources, the editors cannot provide a detailed listing of keywords referencing to particular positions in the text of the book. However, for better reading, the following list of abbreviations is given.

Public awareness about the industrial impact of new technologies and their social and economic consequences has been dominated in the past by microelectronics. Whilst it is evident that microelectronics is the most important technology today and has still not reached its peak, other new technologies are gaining ground and might become as important as microelectronics in an industrial and economic sense. One of these new technological families will be the technologies of light as is shown above.

Discoveries and inventions periodically cause new technological developments within human societies. Key inventions and their accompanying economic and social changes can be seen as the main promoters of technological and structural progress. Many examples of change can be traced back to key inventions. At the end of the last century, one of the major lines of technological development was the implementation of electricity, the introduction of electric current. Inno­ vations were generated both by applying the "low quality" thermal and energy transmission properties, as well as by studying "high quality" characteristics like signal processing and electromagnetic wave propagation. In the field of signal processing, particular devices like the thermionic valve, the transistor and the (micro) chip deserve mention. Regarding energy generation, distribution and consumption, huge investments were made in coal and nuclear power plants, as well as in consumer and industrial electric appliances. Which innovations can be expected to improve or replace some of the applications (products, processes) of electricity? Thinking of an important technology invented about three decades ago - the laser - coherent light plays the key role in the process ("light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation"). Thus the new term technologies of light can be used for such innovations. Extending the definition, "technologies of light" or "photonics" can be defined as any methods, processes or products which make use of the spectrum of light, and any systems whose function is to study, measure, transform or transmit by means of light.