[4] The society's website states that its Field of Interest "shall be lasers, optical devices, optical fibers, and associated lightwave technology and their applications in systems and subsystems in which quantum electronic devices are key elements.
The foundation of the society was made in 1965 by establishing the IEEE Quantum Electronics Council (QEC).
In 1977, under the leadership of Henry Kressel, the council became the IEEE Quantum Electronics and Applications Society (QEAS).
[3][5] The IEEE Photonics Society publishes a broad range of peer-reviewed publications, including: The Quantum Electronics Award is presented annually at the IEEE Photonics Conference to an individual to honour outstanding contributions to quantum electronics, in either or both of the fields of fundamental research or application.
Notable recent recipients have included Govind P. Agrawal (2012), Robert W. Boyd (2014), Richard M. Osgood Jr. (2015), Luigi Lugiato (2019) and Herbert Winful (2020).