Photonics is an area of study that involves the use of radiant energy (such as light), whose fundamental element is the photon. Photonic applications use the photon in the same way that electronic applications use the electron. Devices that run on light have a number of advantages over those that use electricity. The word "photonics" is derived from the Greek word "phos" which means light, it appeared in the late 1960s to describe a field of research whose purpose was to use light to perform functions that traditionally fell within the field typical of electronics, such as telecommunications, information processing, etc. Photonics as a field started with the invention of the laser in 1960. Other developments followed: the laser diode in the 1970s, optical fibers for information transmission and the fiber amplifier doped with l 'erbium. These inventions formed the basis of the telecommunications revolution of the late 20th century and provided the infrastructure for the Internet. Although coined earlier, the term photonics became popular in the 1980s, as fiber optic data transmission was adopted by telecommunications network operators. At that time, the term was widely used in Bell laboratories. Its use was confirmed when the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society created an archive journal called Photonics Technology Letters in the late 1980s. During the period before the dot-com crash around 2001, photonics as a field has mainly focused on optical telecommunications. However, photonics covers a wide range of scientific and technological applications, including laser manufacturing, biological and chemical detection, diagnostic and medical therapy, display technology and optical computing. Further growth in photonics is likely if current developments in photonics on silicon are successful.