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Harnessing Light Optical Science and Engineering for the 21st Century, Overview (1998) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary: Introduction to the Field and the Issues
Pages 1-4

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From page 1...
... This property of laser light has made possible fiber-optic communications, compact disks, laser surgery, and a host of other applications in all, a multitrillion-dollar worldwide market. Applications of incoherent light abound as well, including optical lithography systems for patterning computer chips, high-resolution microscopes, adaptive optics for Earth-based astronomy, infrared sensors for everything from remote controls to night-vision equipment, and new high-efficiency lighting sources.
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From page 2...
... information technology and telecommunications; (2) health care and the life sciences; (3)
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From page 3...
... Innovative optical sensors are augmenting human vision, showing details and revealing information never before seen: infrared cameras that provide satellite pictures of clouds and weather patterns; night-vision scopes for use by law enforcement agencies; infrared motion detectors for home security, real-time measurements of industrial emissions, on-line industrial process control, and global environmental man itori ng. H igh-resol ution d igital cameras are about to revel ution ize and computerize photography and printing, and improvements in photovoltaic cells may permit solar energy to provide up to half of world energy needs by the middle of the next century.
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From page 4...
... One example is the emergence of new classes of numerically controlled optical grinding and polishing machines. Another is a better understanding of the characteristics of optical materials, from glasses to polymers to metals, thus permitting broader use of these automated technologies.
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Key Terms

  • optical techniques
  • lighting sources
  • optical lithography
  • incoherent light
  • future vitality

  • polishing machines
  • enforcement agencies
  • dictate special
  • applications drove
  • automated technologies

  • specialty products
  • patterning computer
  • diverse industries
  • organizations concerned
  • diagnostic probes

  • permitting broader
  • national scale
  • world markets
  • laser repair
  • report reviews

  • consumer access
  • law enforcement
  • optical sensing
  • weather patterns
  • global environmental

  • selected market
  • pay close
  • human vision
  • useful tasks
  • telecommunications network


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