Optics and optical components cover all manner of devices that are used to manipulate or control light. These components either use electrical or electronic means to manipulate light, such as occurs with lasers, diodes, photomultipliers and optoelectronic sensors, or they can force the manipulation via material means. This second grouping includes items such as lenses, filters, beamsplitters, mirrors, diffusers, plates, prisms, and windows. A subgroup of this category is fiber optics. This grouping includes all products that are used to transmit light via transparent glass or plastic fibers. Items within the optics and optical components category fall into four loose families: light sources, optical components, optoelectronics, and fiber optics.

Optical light sources include lasers, diodes, and lamps; items that when excited, produce or radiate light. The light produced can be in the visible range (as with diode lasers and laser pointers) or within the infrared (for example, helium neon lasers) or ultraviolet ranges (excimer lasers) of the spectrum.

Optical components are items that are used to bend, split, diffuse, reflect or otherwise alter or refocus light wavelengths. This may include changing the spectrum of the light, transforming a light pattern into an electric one (image), or simply altering the direction or path. These items generally function without an outside power source, although they may be part of a larger system that does require a power source. Typical components within this family include lenses, filters, beamsplitters, mirrors, diffusers, plates, prisms, and windows.

Optoelectronics are electronic devices that emit, modulate, transmit, or sense light. The items within this optics and optical components category include lux meters (light meters), color and contrast detection sensors, light emitting diodes, modulators, photoconductive cells, photodiodes, photomultiplier tubes, phototransistors, power and energy meters and radiometers.

Fiber optics includes a wide array of optics and optical components that are involved in the transport of data, in the form of light, via transparent glass or plastic fibers. Everything from the basic fiber optic cables, to amplifiers, attenuators, circulators, connectors and couplers, fault locators, isolators, modulators, polarizers, power meters, receivers, switches, test sources, transmitters and transceivers, wavelength multiplexers and light guides are covered within this family.