OSA Research and Education

Abstract

From time to time someone expresses concern that committees established to review the whole state of physics do not list subfields according to chapter headings in classical textbooks, including optics, but may select such broad areas of interest as Astrophysics and Relativity; Data; Electronic, Atomic, and Molecular Physics; Elementary Particle Physics; Nuclear Physics; Physics in Biology; Physics of Condensed Matter; Plasma Physics and Physics of Fluids; and Space and Planetary Physics. We do indeed think that modern optics could appropriately be added to such a list and understand that in one study in progress it has been added. But it is not the purpose of this article to decry the omission of optics from a listing such as that above; in fact, it is not possible to discuss most of the fields listed without including optics. We intend merely to draw attention again to information about optical science which gives it a favorable aspect among various subfields of physics and which should encourage colleges and universities as well as prospective students in the reasonable expectation that continued strong programs of teaching and research in optics will offer a certain versatility and utility at a time when these attributes are needed. The time has come again when utility of a scientific subject does not discredit its intellectual value, if indeed it ever did. It is true that we in optical circles heard for a long time that one of our problems in arousing interest was that optics had become a practical, or utilitarian, or applied science. But the Optical Society had recognized this attribute of optical science in its statement of purpose when it was founded in 1916, and has felt no particular reason to explain away the “practicality” of astronomical telescopes, or high resolution spectroscopy based either on diffraction or interference, or numerous other optical methods of observation and measurement which are practical because the basic physical phenomena under investigation are themselves optical in nature. While there is not available at the moment a long list of employment opportunities for optical physicists and optical engineers, relatively recent employment and academic information supports the idea of the long-term strength of optical science.