Light everywhere around us, which is essential for one of our basic senses (sight) as well as life on the Earth itself. It supports many technologies that affect our daily life, including energy harvesting with solar cells, LEDs (LED) and communications through optical fiber networks.
The smartphone is a great example of light strength. Inside the box, its electronic functions work due to Quantum mechanics. The front screen is a completely light device: liquid crystals controlling light. Also back: white light -emitting diodes, lenses to take pictures.
We use optical word, sometimes optics, to pick up the light of light for new applications and technologies. Its importance is celebrated in modern life every year on May 16 with International Day of Light.
Scientists on the African continent, despite the restrictions of the resources according to which they work, have made remarkable contributions to optical research. Some of these have been taken in a modern number of the magazine Applied optics. Along with colleagues in this field from Morocco and Senegal, we This group of papers was presentedWhich aims to celebrate excellence and show the impact of studies that address continental issues.
Highlighting the photonic in Africa
The history of Africa in official optics It stems back for thousands of years, with references to the design of the lenses already Record In ancient Egyptian writings.
Recently, Africa has contributed to the Nobel Prize on the basis of optics. Ahmed Zewail (The Egyptian Born) Watch the superior operations in chemistry with the laser (1999, Nobel Prize for Chemistry) and Serge Harush (Moroccan Mawlid) studied the behavior of individual light particles and photons (2012, the Nobel Prize for Physics).
Unfortunately, the story of African optics is a story of excellence. The prominent points are good like anywhere else, but there are very few of them to place the continent on the global optics map. According to the 2020 account that I had previously conducted American visual associationBased on their magazines, Africa contributes to less than 1 % to magazine publications all over the world with optics or optical as a topic.
However, there are great opportunities to face continental challenges using optics. Examples of areas where Africans can innovate are:
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Count the digital gap with the infrastructure of modern communications
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Optical imaging, spectral analysis of improvements in agriculture and monitoring climate changes
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The sun’s harnessing with visual materials for clean energy
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Biomolic photo to solve health issues
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Quantum techniques for new forms of communication, sensing, photography and computing.
The papers in the Magazine Magazine touch a variety of topics related to the continent.
One to use optics for Communication through free space (air) even in bad weather conditions. This light -based solution was tested using weather data from two African cities, Alexandria in Egypt and City in Algeria.
Another paper revolves around Sources of a small amount of quantitative tangles for sensing. The authors used Diamond, a jewel in South Africa and more popular with jewelry. Diamond contains many defects, one of which can produce one photons such as output when it is excited. The output of the single photon was divided into two tracks, as if the particle had gone to the left and the right at the same time. This is the strange idea of tangle, in this case, which was created with diamonds. If an object is placed in any one path, interconnection can discover. It is strange that photons take the left path, but the object in the right track, however it still can be discovered.
Read more: Quantum
One of the shareholders suggests cost effectiveness A way to discover and classify harmful bacteria in water.
New approach to Spectral analysis (Study color) for detection Cell health; Biomotic sensors To monitor the levels of salt and glucose in the blood; And visual tools for Food security All of them play their role in visual applications on the continent.
Another field of African optics research that has important applications is to use Visual fibers for soil quality sensing and structural safety. Visual fibers are usually associated with communication, but the modern trend is the use of optical fibers that already exist to learn about small changes in the environment, for example, as early earthquake systems. The research shows that traditional fibers can also be used to see if the soil is insulting, either because there is no moisture or some physical transformation in the structure (weakness or movement). It is a useful tool immediately for cultivation, based on several contracts of research.
A variety of topics in the group shows how creative researchers on the continent use limited resources to achieve maximum effect. The high trend towards applications is likely to be a sign that African governments want their scientists to work on solutions to real problems rather than purely academic questions. An example of this is South Africa, which has a fundamental national strategy (Si) To convert quantum sciences into quantum technology and train the workforce on the new economy.
Towards a brighter future
For young science students who want to enter this field, the opportunities are countless. While the lights have no discipline limits, most students enter into the fields of physics, engineering, chemistry or life sciences. Its strength lies in a mixture of skills, mixing theory, calculation and experimental, which is clarified on problems. At a typical optical conference, there are likely to be more participants in the industry than academics. This is a testimony on its global impact on new technologies and students ’employment opportunities.
The last century was dependent on electronics and controlling electrons. This century will dominate photons and control photons.
Professor Zuhair Sikat from Mohamed V University, Rabat, and the director of the optics and visual pole inside Maskar from Mohamed VI University from Benguir, Morocco, contributed to this article.
This article has been republished from ConversationAn independent, non -profit news organization brings you facts and trusted analysis to help you understand our complex world. Written by: Andrew Forbesand The University of Whitrovernd and Patience Mthunzi-kufaand South Africa University
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The authors do not work on shares, consult them, or receive them from any company or institution that will benefit from this article, and have not revealed any related affiliations that exceed its academic appointment.
