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It is ironic that the ideas ofNewton, which described a beam of
light as a stream ofparticles made it difficult for him to explain
things like thin film interference. Yet these particles, called
'photons', have caused the adjective 'photonic' to gain common
usage, when referring to optical phenomena. The purist might argue
that only when we are confronted by the particle nature of light
should we use the word photonics. Equally, the argument goes on,
only when we are face-to face with an integrable system, i. e. one
that possesses an infinite number of conserved quantities, should
we say soliton rather than solitary wave. Scientists and engineers
are pragmatic, however, and they are happy to use the word
'soliton' to describe what appears to be an excitation that is
humped, multi humped, or localised long enough for some use to be
made of it. The fact that such 'solitons' may stick to each other
(fuse) upon collision is often something to celebrate for an
application, rather than just evidence that, after all, these are
not really solitons, in the classic sense. 'Soliton', therefore, is
a widely used term with the qualification that we are constantly
looking out for deviant behaviour that draws our attention to its
solitary wave character. In the same spirit, 'photonics' is a
useful generic cover-all noun, even when 'electromagnetic theory'
or 'optics' would suffice."
It is ironic that the ideas ofNewton, which described a beam of
light as a stream ofparticles made it difficult for him to explain
things like thin film interference. Yet these particles, called
'photons', have caused the adjective 'photonic' to gain common
usage, when referring to optical phenomena. The purist might argue
that only when we are confronted by the particle nature of light
should we use the word photonics. Equally, the argument goes on,
only when we are face-to face with an integrable system, i. e. one
that possesses an infinite number of conserved quantities, should
we say soliton rather than solitary wave. Scientists and engineers
are pragmatic, however, and they are happy to use the word
'soliton' to describe what appears to be an excitation that is
humped, multi humped, or localised long enough for some use to be
made of it. The fact that such 'solitons' may stick to each other
(fuse) upon collision is often something to celebrate for an
application, rather than just evidence that, after all, these are
not really solitons, in the classic sense. 'Soliton', therefore, is
a widely used term with the qualification that we are constantly
looking out for deviant behaviour that draws our attention to its
solitary wave character. In the same spirit, 'photonics' is a
useful generic cover-all noun, even when 'electromagnetic theory'
or 'optics' would suffice."
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