Medical applications of photonics
Over the past two decades, optic and photonic technologies have become exceedingly ubiquitous in the key enabling devices that are central to many aspects of everyday life. The importance of these paradigm-shifting technologies has so been recognized and appreciated that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization adopted a resolution declaring 2015 as the International Year of Light. The impact of photonic 344technologies on medicine and life sciences has also been significant. Light-based innovations have the potential to improve the quality of life and prognosis of patients but also contribute to the decline of the steeply rising cost of health care. Technological advances in the areas of lasers, detectors, and sensors have enabled the introduction and, relatively quick, acceptance of a number of optical technologies into clinical practice. At the same time, the room for further penetration of photonic technologies in medicine, rather than shrinking, seems to be expanding into both established and new areas.
