International Day of Light

On May 16,2020, the World is celebrating the Day of light and Photons Canada/CPIC is celebrating with the world looking at the Photonics positive impacts in the aftermath of COVID-19.

In the news letter from 14, May 2020, Optics.org ” Post-pandemic positioning”:

“To a large extent, major photonics companies were deemed “essential” businesses, and have been able to maintain their production operations effectively while implementing social distancing and other safety measures. And although there have clearly been challenges in terms of logistics and supply chain disruption”

In a free video posted on the Financial Times web site, the influential economics commentator Martin Wolf suggests that one of the more evident impacts of Covid-19 is the realization that distance working, well, works. “It seems almost certain that the pattern of work we’ve experienced – this transformation away from the office, using modern technology for running businesses – is a permanent shift,” Wolf argues, adding that the response to Covid-19 has accelerated a technological change that was already under way.

May we add that it has been crucial in facilitating and making bearable this shift.
Furthermore in the letter it states:

“for photonics companies involved in the communications sector, that shift already seems evident. This week’s quarterly update from II-VI indicated surging demand for transceivers and other optical components critical for upgrading networks now under stress from what looks likely to become a “new normal”.”

It adds and underlines even more of the positive impacts in the following:

“There are other positive impacts. Optics and photonics components are needed for temperature screening the public, and in several of the tests now developed to detect either the presence of the virus that causes Covid-19, or the antibodies that indicate prior infection. None of these are magic bullets, but together they give us some of the key tools that will enable us to cope with the virus…..may even give us testing solutions based on silicon photonics with unprecedented scaling potential and sophistication.”

So,cheers to the Day of Light and the importance of Photonics in our life!

We are proud to be a part of it.