Photonics
The 21st century is the century of the photon and photonics is the science and technology of generating, controlling and detecting photons. Lasers and related technologies are today indispensable in very diverse fields of science, manufacturing and medical applications. Light-emitting diodes replace our traditional lighting and contribute to lower power consumption. Photonic technology, i.e. optical fibers and related photonic devices, is the backbone of global communication and information exchange. The increasing importance of photonics for society is also underlined by Nobel prizes in 2009, 2014 and 2018.
We offer a programme in the four major photonics areas: Engineering (generation and manipulation of light), Communication (transport of information by optical and microwave techniques), Diagnostics (utilisation of light in industry, health care, etc) and Devices and Component (Nanophotonics, Communication, Optoelectronics, Solar Cells, etc).
This education program is coupled to world-leading research activities in optics, lasers and their applications, performed at the Lund Laser Centre (LLC). LLC is the largest unit in the Nordic countries within the field of lasers, optics and spectroscopy, and a large scale facility of the European Union, part of Laserlab-Europe. It has recently been selected as one of the 20 best research environments in Sweden. The Nanometer Structure Consortium at Lund University (NanoLund) is another research center closely connected to the program.
The employment opportunities in photonics are excellent. The photonics market features stable growth much beyond the global GDP growth. Applications of photonics include light detection, telecommunications, information processing, illumination, metrology, spectroscopy, medicine, laser material processing, robotics and defence. The photonics industry is in rapid expansion worldwide. While the photonics industry is truly global, a number of local photonics related companies are well established (many in the IDEON science park) and two international research facilities create additional opportunities for photonics engineers in Lund – MAX IV, a synchrotron radiation laboratory that opened in Lund in June 2016 and ESS, the European Spallation Source that is currently under construction.
