Abstract
Considerable progress has been made in the field of optoelectronics in the last thirty years. The two principal drivers for this progress have been the invention of the laser and low-loss optical fibres. But what is optoelectronics? Optoelectronics is more than just a marriage of electronics and optics. It represents the higher order integration of technical achievements in electronics and photonics to allow one to chose what, where, when, and how to address both old and new problems and opportunities for increasing customer satisfaction in the areas of information movement and management. I will review the progress in the field and share my insights into where the future lies. The important question no longer is if optics will replace electronics in many of the technologies underlying information movement and management; it is when and to what degree. The limitation no longer arises from the technical capabilities, it comes from economics and social values provided by the increased capabilities in communications and computers.
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This article is based on a Special Lecture given at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, under the auspices of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, on December 19, 1991.
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Kumar, C., Patel, N. Optoelectronics — past, present, and future. Sadhana 17, 327–354 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02811346
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02811346