Photonics is the technology behind the generation and control of light. A comparatively new field of research, photonics is set to become a key technology for the 21st Century. Through the use of lasers, optics, and electro-optical devices it aims to allow new measurements and applications across many diverse fields of technology.

Applications of photonics can be found in computer and cellphone displays, advanced manufacturing, LED-based lighting systems, new photovoltaic clean-energy generators and laser micro-fabrication. There are also ever-increasing applications of laser technology in medicine. One of the largest and most important applications of photonics is in optical communications. The phenomenal development of the World Wide Web is only possible because of the enormous bandwidths now available for data transmission through optical fibres.

Photonics at Auckland is supported by a large photonics research initiative within the Department of Physics, and by the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies.

In New Zealand and around the world there is growing demand for staff with an understanding of optics as well as electronics. At the University of Auckland, Photonics courses have been designed with particular input from the local industries most likely to recruit graduates. Our graduates now work in the photonics industry in New Zealand for companies including Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, Vodafone, Tait Electronics, Cubic Defence, Downer, Coherent Solutions, Southern Photonics. Many students have also found employment at major photonics companies worldwide.