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Optoelectronics is the field of technology concerned with electronic device application to the sourcing, detection and control of light. It encompasses the design, manufacture and study of electronic hardware devices that, as a result, converts electricity into photon signals for various purposes such as medical equipment, telecommunications and general science. Good examples are X-ray machines used in hospitals and fiber optic technology for telecommunication.
Optoelectronics, in the context of science, deals with light, its detection, creation and manipulation for various purposes. This includes X-rays, gamma rays, infrared, ultraviolet and of course visible light. These devices are basically transducers, devices that convert one form of energy into another form of energy, and can either be electrical-to-optical, which usually means that the machine produces light by expending or using electrical energy, or they can be optical-to-electronic, which means that the device is a detector of light and transforms the detected light signals into equivalent electrical signals for computer processing.
Optoelectronics use the quantum mechanical effect of light on materials used in electronic devices such as semiconductors. These effects are:
Optoelectronics should not be confused with electro-optics, as this field is a wider branch of physics that deals with the interaction of electric fields and light, without concern if an electronic device is involved or not.
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