Trends and Opportunities in Photonics Technologies: Solid-State Lighting and Healthcare (NISTIR 7305)

I. INTRODUCTION

Photonics, the use of photons in optics, laser technology, electrical engineering, materials science, or information storage and processing^a, has migrated from being almost exclusively associated with research laboratories into mainstream industrial and consumer markets across the economy, including information technology, healthcare, security and safety, and lighting. In this document, we consider emerging photonic applications in the areas of solid-state lighting (frequently referred to as SSL) and medical applications. Our purpose is to provide a snapshot of the current state of photonics, as applied to SSL and healthcare, as well as to provide an estimate of future directions and anticipated achievements in these fields in the five to ten year time frame. At the same time, we will endeavor to highlight major technical barriers, as currently perceived, to reaching those goal. We base this document on a variety of sources of information. As detailed in Appendices I and II, we have interviewed NIST staff, both in the ATP and in the laboratories, representatives of other government agencies, and representatives from a variety of private companies. In addition, we have consulted reports and roadmaps generated by industrial consortia and government funding agencies.

Because the issues in SSL and healthcare are quite different, the two topics will be considered in separate sections. However, the format for the sections will be the same:

1. a description of the current status, including a synopsis of both the technology and the current applications,
2. a discussion of where the technology and applications are expected to be moving in the 1 to 10 year time frame, and
3. the technical/scientific barriers that need to be overcome for anticipated progress to occur.

It is our intention that this document provides insight both for the ATP to identify technical areas for expanded outreach activities and for the NIST laboratories to identify potentially high-impact areas for future research. To assist with this goal, we have included, in Appendix III a list of current and past ATP-funded projects in the areas of SSL and photonics in healthcare.

It should also be recognized from the outset that, because of regulatory considerations, the business models for healthcare applications are necessarily quite different from those for SSL. With SSL, an analysis of scientific barriers, device effectiveness, and cost comparisons provides a reasonable predictor of market penetration and economic benefits for specific applications. However, because safety concerns override economic benefit, healthcare applications, i.e., drugs, treatments, or devices, must undergo an additional level of scrutiny. This scrutiny is typically applied through clinical trials, which are both expensive and time consuming. Because of the expense of the clinical trials, companies sometimes view certain products, which might prove highly competitive in niche markets, as not worth pursuing. In addition, unsuccessful or partially successful results of clinical trials can either terminate or greatly alter potential market applications in all healthcare products. The applications of photonics in healthcare discussed in this document are almost all in the pre-clinical testing stage. Therefore, while we discuss market and economic predictions due to advances in SSL, with regard to healthcare, we restrict our discussions to potential applications and do not attempt to predict market impacts.

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^a The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

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Date created: May 22, 2006
Last updated: May 25, 2006

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