[en] These new terms cover a group of advanced technologies based on the specific properties of the ineraction between light and matter that have been discovered since the development of lasers. Electronics uses electricity to process information: photonics performs the same functions, but uses light instead of electricity. Photonics can be said to cover all the methods, processes or systems which serve of study, measure and transform or transmit by means of light. The photon devices which have resulted from fundamental and applied research in this field over the last ten years or so cover a comparable range of application areas to that of electronics - mechanical engineering, medicine, avionics, telecommunications, biology, metrology, quality control, hydraulics, computers, botanical science, textiles, remote sensing, pneumatics, aerospace, etc. The list is too long to give in its entirety, but for our present purposes there are four types of significant products: lasers and their accessories, optical fibres and their accessories, data acquisition, processing and display systems and photovoltaic and solar systems. (orig.)