Photon sciences and technologies establish the building blocks for myriad scientific and engineering frontiers in life and energy sciences. Because of their overarching functionality, the developmental roadmap and opportunities underpinned by photonics are often semiotically mediated by the delineation of subject areas of application. In this perspective article, we map current and emerging linkages between three intersecting areas of research stewarded by advanced photonics technologies, namely light by design, outlined as (a) quantum and structured photonics, (b) light–matter interactions in accelerators and accelerator-based light sources, and (c) ultrafast sciences and quantum molecular dynamics. In each section, we will concentrate on state-of-the-art achievements and present prospective applications in life sciences, biochemistry, quantum optics and information sciences, and environmental and chemical engineering, all founded on a broad range of photon sources and methodologies. We hope that this interconnected mapping of challenges and opportunities seeds new concepts, theory, and experiments in the advancement of ultrafast photon sciences and light–matter interactions. Through this mapping, we hope to inspire a critically interdisciplinary approach to the science and applications of light by design.

光子科学和技术为生命和能源科学的无数科学和工程前沿奠定了基础。由于其总体功能，以光子学为基础的发展路线图和机会通常由应用主题领域的划分在符号上进行中介。在这篇透视文章中，我们绘制了由先进光子学技术管理的三个交叉研究领域之间当前和新兴的联系，即光设计，概述为 (a) 量子和结构光子学，(b) 加速器和加速器中的光-物质相互作用 -基于光源，以及（c）超快科学和量子分子动力学。在每个部分，我们将专注于最先进的成就，并展示在生命科学、生物化学、量子光学和信息科学，以及环境和化学工程，都建立在广泛的光子源和方法论之上。我们希望这种相互关联的挑战和机遇映射为超快光子科学和光-物质相互作用的发展带来新的概念、理论和实验。通过这种映射，我们希望通过设计激发对光的科学和应用的批判性跨学科方法。