Day of Photonics 2022


Enjoy Hamamatsu’s five day countdown of fun facts to raise awareness on the fascinating topic of photonics!

 

Did you know?

 

“On 21 October 1983, the General Conference on Weights and Measures adopted value of 299,792.458 km/s for the speed of light. On the occasion of this anniversary, every year hundreds of activities are voluntarily organised around the world to promote photonics.”



1. Looking back on photonics

The term photonics comes from the Greek word “phos” meaning light. Its history is much more recent than our search for the meaning of light, read more about what it is and how it came about.

Humans have been questioning for centuries the meaning of light and what could be achieved by manipulating it. How much do you know about this topic?


2. Photonics in our pockets

In our pockets, most of us hold a mobile device. This tiny object is filled with sensors capable of handling all kinds of functions that we take for granted.

Better yet, these phones have been opening doors to countless applications including advancing the medical imaging and sensing equipment market. 

 

3. Photonics when we drive

Every time you go into your car, you are surrounded by an increasing number of sensors* that make your vehicle safer and more comfortable.  

*The number of sensors depend on the vehicle 



Have you heard about LiDAR, the technology behind autonomous cars? Yes, photonics is behind this too!

4. Photons travel fast!

Thanks to the speed of light, we are able to communicate and share information around the world extremely fast! 

*0.13 seconds calculation time=(2*pi*earth radius 6400km)/(speed of light 300000 km/s) = 0.134 seconds

5. Photonics is everywhere

To finish off, let us be inspired by actually seeing in a video what light technology can do. Did you know that by flickering the light from a single LED, a change too quick for the human eye to detect, we can transmit far more data than a cellular tower? 



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