LIGHT IN SIGHT – THE OVER TWO-BILLION-EURO PHOTONICS INDUSTRY HAS AN IMPACT ON NUMEROUS SOLUTIONS REVOLUTIONIZING OUR EVERYDAY LIFE
We are living in the century of photonics! This information comes as news to most people, although without photonics you wouldn’t even be able to read this text on the screen of your device. Many other essential everyday things would be missing. But how do things stand in the industry that has achieved growth rates of more than 50 percent in just a few years? How about the revolutionary scientific inventions pending in Finland within the Flagship for Photonics Research, PREIN?
Photonics studies light, matter, and their interaction. In addition to the wavelengths of light visible to humans, photonics covers the whole spectrum of light, i.e. also ultraviolet and infrared light. Like these, the essential importance of photonics in everyday life solutions is largely hidden from our eyes.
“The science and technology of light, i.e. photonics, is nowadays involved in almost everything. It is a crucially important enabling technology,” says prof. Jyrki Saarinen, Impact Director of the Academy of Finland funder PREIN flagship. He has worked as a key leader in the Finnish photonics industry for over twenty years in both companies and research organizations.
“In the development of technology, the 19th century was based on steam engines and mechanics. In the 20th century it was all about electronics, i.e. electrons carrying electricity, while now photons carry light. Without photonics, we would not have modern telecommunications with information travelling along optical fibers. Without photonics, the development of medicine and space research would not be at the current level,” says Saarinen.
More than half of the material costs of a smartphone alone consists of photonics, i.e. screen, cameras, LED light and sensors. More than 70 percent of the measurement technology used in Finnish paper machines is based on photonics. Optical heart rate measurement in smart watches and rings is also an application of the science of light.
“The much-talked-about quantum computer is only part of the future applications of quantum technology, which also include quantum communication and sensors. The entire field of quantum technology is widely funded worldwide, with more than half going to photonics and specifically solutions based on light,” Saarinen mentions.
An industry worth more than two billion euros is smoldering in Finland – reaching more than two trillion internationally
According to the recent Photonics Industry in Finland survey, the industry’s estimated turnover in Finland already exceeds two billion euros. Compared to the previous study conducted in 2020, the photonics industry has grown by more than 50 percent. In 2022, SPIE, the umbrella organization of the world’s photonics industry, estimated that the value of the fields and services enabled by photonics exceed two trillion euros globally.
“Photonics is above all an enabling technology and therefore it is related to almost everything. The strong growth and demand is explained by the fact that there is always a market even when the economic situation is changing. Among the market trends, for example, Europe’s strong effort towards security of supply self-sufficiency in terms of defense, telecommunications and cyber security will certainly be reflected in Finland’s role as a key supplier of photonics solutions “, says the Impact Manager of PREIN, Juha Purmonen, who also works as the executive director of Photonics Finland, the umbrella organization of the photonics industry.
In Finland, the industry grows faster than in other countries: Where the global annual growth rate has been about six percent, Finnish photonics has grown at the rate of 14 % in recent years. According to the 2023 report, the turnover of companies limited to purely photonics was more than 2 billion euros. There were about 300 purely photonics companies which employ more than 6,000 experts in the field.
By global standards, Finland is especially good in optical imaging and sensors, micro- and nanophotonics, as well as lasers and XR technology – for example, photonics plays a key role in the usability of the metaverse that connects virtual worlds. The appreciation of Finnish photonics expertise is proven by several foreign acquisitions of Finnish companies and many foreign companies have located their branches in Finland. In addition, the industry’s growth is supported by high-quality photonics education and world-class research under the PREIN flagship, funded by the Academy of Finland.
Finnish photonics companies emphasize export and expect turnover to grow by as much as 31 percent. In the future, photonics will require more and more professionals of various levels, from research to practical skills, as companies are expecting an 18 percent increase in their number of personnel. No wonder, because there is plenty of demand and growth opportunities, especially in the international markets.
” Many companies are young and just gathering momentum. Photonics is used mainly in specialized equipment, so the domestic market is small for many companies. The global market, on the other hand, offers companies enormous growth potential. At the moment, only the availability of financing and the scalability of the business model hinder growth, because there is clearly demand,” says Toni Mattila, the director responsible for Business Finland’s Sustainable Manufacturing program .
From solar energy to light-activated drug delivery
In the Academy of Finland PREIN flagship, energy, health, environment, and digitalization are studied as application areas of photonics. The program started in 2019 and will last until the end of 2026. The projects operating within it are creating Finnish breakthroughs that will revolutionize, for example, solar energy production, drug dosing and infection identification.
Researchers at Aalto University, which is part of the PREIN flagship, are breaking records of silicon cells with photonics. Current silicon cells capture the energy of visible light very well, and it has been thought that an efficiency of about 30 percent cannot be exceeded. However, the high-energy ultraviolet light and the weaker but wide infrared light wavelength range remain unexploited.
“Our focus is on one hundred percent. We have already achieved a new world record, and we get electricity from UV light unlike others,” says Professor of Micro- and Nanoelectronics Hele Savin from Aalto University. She is a highly respected solar energy researcher worldwide. Researchers are also looking for ways to make cells even cheaper, even though they are already the cheapest way to generate electricity.
“The biggest wearing part in cells are the silicon wafers, the normal thickness of which is 200 micrometers. However, we have made cells of up to 10 micrometers without affecting the efficiency. If 20 times more cells can be made from the same material, a considerable cost saving can be achieved. Here too, photonics, i.e. light manipulation, is the way to make the light bounce inside the cell.”
At the University of Helsinki, a revolutionizing innovation in medicine, drug dosing activated by light, is underway. The goal is to control the release, concentration and targeting of the drug taken into the body with light.
“The big challenge here is the small optical window of the human skin. Red light passes through the skin, but not blue, which would be necessary due to sufficient chemical energy. So chemistry and biology do not meet,” says Timo Laaksonen, Professor of pharmaceutical nanotechnology at the University of Helsinki. He also works as a Research group leader at Tampere University.
With the help of photonics, two solutions have been found to the tricky challenge.
“We are able to produce blue light inside the tissue by using a photonic gimmick, with which, contrary to the principles of physics, we achieve more with less energy. Molecules sensitive to red light collect energy and produce blue light with a record-breaking 30 percent efficiency. Together with UPM, we are researching nanocellulose gels, which can be used to activate the release of the drug with red light,” explains Laaksonen.
In turn, the interdisciplinary research teams of VTT, which is part of the PREIN consortium, have been investigating the use of flexible electronics and optics in health and wellness applications for about fifteen years. From wearable devices to mass-produced diagnostics, novelties using photonics are under development. The latter includes an inexpensive antibody test, which can be based on biodegradable cellulose.
“We have made optically active test strips with extremely thin gold surface that can contain the antibody of almost any infection. When the sample is brought to the surface, its optical properties change radically, and this can be detected with a fluorescence light reading device,” says the leader of the research team, Maria Smolander from VTT.
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