Great suggestion. Can confirm all optics-themed fairs are now about photonics. Thats where the monnies are, powered by rapid explosion of tech and tech demand.

Be careful though as optics has various fields. An optics engineer focused on lasers wont be employable for a IC photonics job, for example.

However, me wonders if this trend will be shortlived and the technology will become replaced quickly by another one in future. Not sure if light as new silicon will have a longevity of a whole generation.