BELLINGHAM, WASH.-- May 17, 2022 -- An action-packed video styled as a blockbuster-movie trailer provides the linchpin for this year’s International Day of Light (IDL) campaign, “Our future is light. Play your part.” Released today, Day of Light features diverse characters successfully solving global-level problems using photonics-enabled technologies.

Three professional societies - SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, IEEE Photonics Society, and Optica, Advancing Optics & Photonics Worldwide - partnered to create the video and the accompanying 2022 IDL campaign. “Our future is light. Play your part” promotes the importance of light-based technologies and interesting careers in optics and photonics, while raising awareness of the annual IDL celebration on 16 May. From technologies that improve vision and power smartphones to those that provide tools to study Earth and Space, from healthcare to communications at the speed of light, photonics is the key enabling technology of a brighter future.

The video, its look and feel inspired by the 2010 science-fiction thriller Inception, features Dawn, an optical-engineer action hero, who is busy saving the world with light-based technologies such as prisms, solar panels, spectral imaging, lasers, and lidar. The video also issues a lively invitation to real-life future scientists, technicians, engineers, and industry leaders: consider a career in photonics.

In conjunction with the video’s release, the related website includes an overview of the technologies mentioned in the film; depictions of professionals working in the field of optics and photonics, from optical engineers and laser technicians to academic researchers; and a selection of downloadable resources for education and careers.

“Many of the devices we use every day are comprised of light-based technologies made possible by the optics and photonics community,” said Optica CEO Elizabeth Rogan. “On the International Day of Light, we celebrate these contributions from our community and hope this celebration inspires others - particularly students - to study and work in light science and technology.”

“The International Day of Light is the perfect time to highlight the many varied and exciting career opportunities in optics and photonics,” noted SPIE CEO Kent Rochford. “Light-based technologies are providing much-needed solutions to some of our biggest global challenges and will continue to do so. This is a terrific time to be considering a career in the industry and we hope this year’s IDL campaign will reach and inspire future scientists, engineers, and technicians.”

“Each International Day of Light, we celebrate the long and rich history of optics and photonics that has brought so much to our everyday lives,” said IEEE Photonics Society Executive Director Doug Razzano. “By continuing to advance light science and make known to the world the importance of the technologies derived from it, we will help to grow and support this vibrant technical community.”