According to an article published in The Economist in March 2000, the Optics and Photonics industry is growing at an all time record for a technology. The global photonics components market alone has grown from less than 200 million dollars in 1995 to about 50 billion dollars in 2000, and it is expected to grow to roughly 200 billion dollars by 2010. And this is for components alone, whereas, as mentioned in Applications of Optics and Photonics, the even more important contribution of optics and photonics is in the secondary markets, at the systems and applications level.
The pervasive and far-reaching applications of this technology, along with its multidisciplinary characteristic, open tremendous career opportunities to qualified people in the field, careers that promise to be rewarding both on a professional and a material level. A degree in Applied Physics/Science/Engineering with a concentration in Optics and Photonics can lead to exciting and rewarding careers in many different fields. By all accounts, there aren’t enough qualified people to fill all the jobs requiring a solid optics and photonics education and training, from technicians to applications engineers, to technical managers and research staff. And this demand is only going to grow, as more and more applications of optics and photonics emerge.
Whether you plan to be a Physics, Chemistry, Bio-Chemistry, Computer Science, Electrical, Mechanical or Industrial Engineering major, you can also prepare yourself in the process to become a skilled optics and photonics professional. The career options are virtually limitless, as reflected by the examples below:
Photonics Spectra (www.photonics.com), a Laurin Publication and an authoritative source of information in the field of optics and photonics, publishes an annual survey of Jobs in Photonics, the most comprehensive survey in the field. A copy of the 2005 report is included below, to illustrate the breadth of the field, the large number of industries it spans and enables, and the diversity of career opportunities it offers. For more details, visit www.photonics.com.
