A bird's eye assessment of the Japanese optoelectronics: Semiconductor lasers, LEDs, and integrated optics.

Within the last decade and a half, the field of optoelectronics has undergone and is still experiencing a tremendous growth in both research and product development in all industrial countries. Here, we shall examine the underlying driving- force of the Japanese optoelectronics, compare the growth of the Japanese optoelectronics with those of U.S.A., and other western countries from 1969 to present. We shall also study the Japanese versus U.S. inventiveness in optoelectronics, and finally some observations about the Japanese R&D efficiency and technology-transfer are made.