alright..this may sound completely crazy, but i want to pursure a career in photonics

[bobobob121]

That's right, I'm getting at that age where i must decide on where to go with my life. One major possibility is Photonic Engineering and Research; as the college close to my house has an entire course there. I just want to know a few factors that i must tackle before getting completely involved in it. Such as, what type of skills are required? "Maths, Physics, Trig" Also, a big part of this no matter how much anyone wants to deny it is the money. How much annually does one who works in this field make on average starting out.?

thanks for any future info anyone gives me

peace,

matt

 

[dr-ebert]

I don't know what exactly they teach at this "Photonics Engineering and Research" college course, but as an education, this sounds far too narrow and specialised to offer any great opportunities. I guess most companies would fill such a position with a real physicist or engineer with some previous exposure to the field.

 

[millirad]

If you can tackle the math and physics successfully, I would say go for it. Are you proficient in Calculus? Differential Equations? Have you successfully completed a Physics course? There is a lot of math involved with Optics in any laser specialty. If I said "reflected angle", "incident angle" and "angle of refraction" would that be something that you are familiar with? Also, there is some demand for field engineers involved with lasers and fiber-optic/glass communication aka the "internet". You wouldn't think that there is much to learn about fiber-optic propagation of light waves, but it can be a little challenging. (JMHO)

 

[nikokapo]

Take into account that any engineering doesn't take math & physics for granted. You'll learn all of it in college though it will be hard but very rewarding.

I don't know how much you can earn but any engineer earns good money... at least to buy a few RPLs

I study Industrial Engineering and what I can tell you is that as millirad said, you wouldn't think there is much to learn about ANYTHING but you'll see that oh god there's so much about anything you can imagine...

 

[ElektroFreak]

You should ask pullbangdead about it. He is presently studying under the person who invented blu-ray diodes, Dr. Shuji Nakamura, at UCSB. He could tell you exactly what it requires. If that's what you're interested in, I say go for it. There is HUGE potential in this field of study, as the future of microprocessors and computing is heavily dependent on the integration of electrooptic principles. Chips that work using photons rather than or along with electrons are under development and will undoubtedly revolutionize the computing world.

 

[bobobob121]

i see that this is a very challenging yet rewarding career path; what i would be pursuing is somewhere along the lines of what my good friend currently does " splices fiber-optic lines for phone/internet/military services.