Optoelectronics

Abstract

Although devices that combine light with electronics are by no means new, the name ‘optoelectronics’ is recently coined. The same revolution that replaced the valve with the transistor, and subsequently complex transistor circuits with integrated circuits, produced an increase in the number and types of devices combining light and electronics. The term ‘optoelectronic’ came into use as a description for what has now become a large and important branch of electronics technology.