Established in 2004, the Faculty of Photonics trains Bachelor's and Master's students in the field of photonics and optical informatics.

Photonics is an area of science and technology, related to the use of light radiation (or photon stream) in the optical elements, devices, and systems, in which optical signals are generated, amplified, modulated, distributed and detected.

Optical informatics is an area of photonics, in which optical technologies of transmitting, receiving, processing, storing and displaying information are created.

The Faculty's Bachelor's and Master's students receive in-depth knowledge and practical skills in both traditional collective disciplines of higher education, as well as in the field of optical physics, the theory of information and information systems, computing systems architecture, optical materials science, systems and technologies of photonics, optical and quantum information technologies, programming technologies, as well as in innovation management in the field of high technologies.

The Faculty has several dozens of educational and research laboratories and centers. Among them are such scientific institutions as the Research Institute for Nanophotonics and Optical Informatics and the Centre of Informational Optical Technologies, as well as laboratories focusing on various fields: optical physics, optical materials science, photonics, optical informatics, artificial intelligence technology, and quantum informatics.

Active cooperation with the firms and companies is used to prepare professionals demanded in the labor market. In accordance with the curriculum areas of "Photonics and Optical Information Technology", which involve a system of pass-through research works and scientific and technological practices, since the second year students of the faculty have the opportunity to participate in the work of successful companies, as well as in scientific research and technological projects at ITMO University, and other research and innovation centers of St. Petersburg, conducted in the field of photonics and optical information technology under state orders of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Russian and international grants and contracts.

An important component in the preparation of high-quality young professionals and scientists is the organization and conduction of international youth schools and conferences in accordance with other educational and scientific organizations and societies, as well as the creation and development of youth scientific associations, as well as Russian and international scientific societies.

Among the students, faculty and graduate students are the ones who got the scholarship of the President of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation, the winners of the best scientific works competitions, conducted by the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Education and Science, the world's largest scientific societies and foundations, such as INTAS (The International Association for the Promotion of Cooperation with Scientists from the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union) SPIE (International Society for optics and photonics), CRDF (U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation), OSA (Optical Society of America) and others.