Introduction

Abstract The present chapter gives an introduction to Nanophotonics. It starts with the definition of Electronics, and then describes its scope, progress, and current state-of the-art technology. After giving the definition of Photonics, a brief sketch of the development of Photonics is given mentioning how it opened up newer areas of development and applications and novel physical phenomena. The meaning and scope of Nanophotonics are then given, covering semiconductor nanostructures, photonic band gap structures, metallic nanostructures with emphasis on nanoantenna, plasmonics, metamaterials, and metasurfaces. The structures used in Nanophotonicsare then briefly introduced. A list of novel physical phenomena including cavity QED effects, Bose–Einstein condensation, etc., is then given. Finally, some of the envisaged application areas of Nanophotonics are discussed; in particular, the transition from Electronics to Photonics and ultimately to plasmonics in attaining small-size and high-speed systems for networking is briefly mentioned.