report
8.7.1 Definition

Nanophotonics describes the study of the behaviour of light at sub-wavelength scales. It encompasses a wide range of materials and technologies which have applications in a number of sectors. For example, plasmonics is a promising technology which may be used to enable interconnection of optical and electronic components. However, it also has applications in fields like photovoltaics and sensing.

Professor Clivia M. Sotomayor Torres of University College Cork describes nanophotonics as:

 "... the science and engineering of light-matter interactions which take place, on the one hand, within the light wavelength and sub-wavelength scales and, on the other hand, are determined by the physical, chemical and structural nature of artificially or natural nanostructured matter, it is envisaged that nanophotonics has the potential to provide ultra-small optoelectronic components, high speed and greater bandwidth."
Production nanophotonics - dream or reality, ICT Results, CORDIS
http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm?section=news&tpl=article&ID=63068

This report will focus mainly on the implications of nanophotonics for electronic applications. This encompasses the creation of optical components which either exist in sub 100nm length scales, or which have other key measurements (such a surface smoothness) that are in the nanometre range. Nanoscale structures, such as photonic crystals,  will also be considered in view of their relevance to optical networks.

The burgeoning  research area of metamaterials  is also within the domain of nanophotonics. This is a field which has generated a great deal of public interest, largely because of their implications for the construction of ‘cloaking devices'.

New tools which are enabled by nanophotonics, such as near-field optics, will also be considered in this report, not least because of their applicability to lithography. Finally, plasmonics, a field which is dependent on the ability to purposefully engineer specific nanoscale surfaces.

Please note that quantum dots themselves are covered in the relevant section of the ObservatoryNano report on Materials.