Exploiting photonics in alternative markets

The extraordinary progress of optical communications over the last decade or so has led some commentators to suggest that the photonics community has done too good a job in satisfying the demand for bandwidth. The world is criss-crossed with millions of miles of glass fibre carrying global communications on pulses of light. In hindsight, historians and economists will point out that a glut of any commodity, in this case bandwidth, inevitably results in a crash in the market. While this may be so at present, the underlying growth in optical telecommunication remains firm and will surely eventually stabilise.