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Harnessing Light Optical Science and Engineering for the 21st Century (1998) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
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...
... The field is largely defined by what it enables; as a result, applications drove the structure of the study and the report, which is organized around seven major areas of national need: (1 ~ information technology and telecommunications; (2) health care and the life sciences; (3)
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From page 3...
... electricity consumption now devoted to lighting. 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 monitoring.
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From page 4...
... industry to recapture selected market segments. One example is the emergence of new classes of numerically controlled optical grinding and polishing machines.
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Key Terms

  • optical techniques
  • optical lithography
  • incoherent light
  • polishing machines
  • enforcement agencies

  • dictate special
  • applications drove
  • automated technologies
  • patterning computer
  • diverse industries

  • organizations concerned
  • diagnostic probes
  • permitting broader
  • national scale
  • world markets

  • laser repair
  • report reviews
  • consumer access
  • optical sensing
  • law enforcement

  • weather patterns
  • global environmental
  • selected market
  • pay close
  • human vision

  • useful tasks
  • telecommunications network
  • compact disks
  • semiconductor displays
  • environmental concerns


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