The editors of Advances in Optics and Photonics and Optica introduce a collaborative publishing effort that highlights emerging fields in ways that will benefit both new and seasoned researchers. In this first example, a tutorial and a mini-review cover the physics of second-order nonlinear interactions in dispersion-engineered nonlinear photonic devices.

Spatiotemporal sculpturing of light pulses with sophisticated structures on demand is one major goal of the everlasting pursuit of ultrafast information transmission and processing as well as ultraintense energy concentration and extraction using light. It may hold the key to unlocking new extraordinary fundamental physical effects. Traditionally, spatiotemporal light pulses are treated as spatiotemporally

Entanglement is a quintessential quantum mechanical phenomenon with no classical equivalent. First discussed by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen and formally introduced by Schrödinger in 1935, entanglement has grown from a scientific debate to a radically new resource that sparks a technological revolution. This review focuses on fundamentals and recent advances in entanglement-based quantum information

Emerging applications in quantum information, microscopy, biosensing, depth sensing, and augmented reality demand miniaturized components in the visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) spectrum with wavelengths between 380 and 1100 nm. Foundry silicon photonics, which has been optimized for telecommunication wavelengths, can be adapted to this wavelength range. In this article, we review recent developments

Since the invention of the silicon subwavelength grating waveguide in 2006, subwavelength metamaterial engineering has become an essential design tool in silicon photonics. Employing well-established nanometer-scale semiconductor manufacturing techniques to create metamaterials in optical waveguides has allowed unprecedented control of the flow of light in photonic chips. This is achieved through fine-tuning

Since the invention of the silicon subwavelength grating waveguide in 2006, subwavelength metamaterial engineering has become an essential design tool in silicon photonics. Employing well-established nanometer-scale semiconductor manufacturing techniques to create metamaterials in optical waveguides has allowed unprecedented control of the flow of light in photonic chips. This is achieved through fine-tuning

Realization of single-mode, high-power and high-beam-quality (namely, high-brightness) semiconductor lasers, which can rival or even replace bulky lasers such as gas, solid, and fiber lasers, is one of the ultimate goals of laser physics and photonics. The demand for such ultimate single-mode high-brightness semiconductor lasers is increasing for a wide variety of emerging applications including next-generation

Non-Abelian optics has emerged as a promising research field with the potential to revolutionize our understanding of light–matter interactions and enable new applications in areas including topological photonic devices, quantum computing, optical sensing, and communications. This review provides an overall framework for the rapidly developing field of non-Abelian properties in optics, including the

Harnessing linear and angular momenta of light is one of the cornerstones in modern optics and has found tremendous applications in optical circuits, particle manipulation, metrology, quantum information processing, etc. Emerging theoretical protocols and experimental explorations have created a surge of interest in light lateral momenta and forces, which are perpendicular to the light wave propagation

This tutorial–review on applications of artificial neural networks in photonics targets a broad audience, ranging from optical research and engineering communities to computer science and applied mathematics. We focus here on the research areas at the interface between these disciplines, attempting to find the right balance between technical details specific to each domain and overall clarity. First

This tutorial–review on applications of artificial neural networks in photonics targets a broad audience, ranging from optical research and engineering communities to computer science and applied mathematics. We focus here on the research areas at the interface between these disciplines, attempting to find the right balance between technical details specific to each domain and overall clarity. First

The generation, manipulation, storage, and detection of single photons play a central role in emerging photonic quantum information technology. Individual photons serve as flying qubits and transmit the relevant quantum information at high speed and with low losses, for example between individual nodes of quantum networks. Due to the laws of quantum mechanics, the associated quantum communication is

Light transport in a highly multimode fiber exhibits complex behavior in space, time, frequency, and polarization, especially in the presence of mode coupling. The newly developed techniques of spatial wavefront shaping turn out to be highly suitable to harness such enormous complexity: a spatial light modulator enables precise characterization of field propagation through a multimode fiber, and by

Non-Hermitian optics is a burgeoning field at the intersection of quantum physics, electrodynamics, and nanophotonics. It provides a new perspective of the role of gain and loss in optical systems. Leveraging the advanced designs inspired by non-Hermitian physics, classical optical platforms have been widely investigated to unveil novel physical concepts, such as parity-time symmetry and exceptional

The coherent Ising machine (CIM) is designed to solve the NP-hard Ising problem quickly and energy efficiently. Boolean satisfiability (SAT) and maximum satisfiability (Max-SAT) are classes of NP-complete and NP-hard problems that are equally important and more practically relevant combinatorial optimization problems. Many approaches exist for solving Boolean SAT, such as quantum annealing and classical

Starting with a historical account of evolution in Raman spectroscopy, in this review we provide details of the advancements that have pushed detection limits to single molecules and enabled non-invasive molecular characterization of distinct organelles to provide next-generation bioanalytical assays and ultrasensitive molecular and cellular diagnostics. Amidst a growing number of publications in recent

The commercial success of radio-frequency acoustic filters in wireless communication systems has launched aluminum nitride (AlN) as one of the most widely used semiconductors across the globe. Over recent years, AlN has also been investigated as an attractive photonic integrated platform due to its excellent characteristics, such as enormous bandgaps (∼6.2 eV), quadratic and cubic optical nonlinearities

This tutorial provides an overview of the local description of polarization for nonparaxial light, for which all Cartesian components of the electric field are significant. The polarization of light at each point is characterized by a three-component complex vector in the case of full polarization and by a 3 × 3 polarization matrix for partial polarization. Standard concepts for paraxial polarization

Optical microcombs represent a new paradigm for generating laser frequency combs based on compact chip-scale devices, which have underpinned many modern technological advances for both fundamental science and industrial applications. Along with the surge in activity related to optical microcombs in the past decade, their applications have also experienced rapid progress: not only in traditional fields

Optical microcombs represent a new paradigm for generating laser frequency combs based on compact chip-scale devices, which have underpinned many modern technological advances for both fundamental science and industrial applications. Along with the surge in activity related to optical microcombs in the past decade, their applications have also experienced rapid progress: not only in traditional fields

Over the past few years, progress in hollow-core optical fiber technology has reduced the attenuation of these fibers to levels comparable to those of all-solid silica-core single-mode fibers. The sustained pace of progress in the field has sparked renewed interest in the technology and created the expectation that it will one day enable realization of the most transparent light-propagating waveguides

Dielectric laser accelerators (DLAs) are fundamentally based on the interaction of photons with free electrons, where energy and momentum conservation are satisfied by mediation of a nanostructure. In this scheme, the photonic nanostructure induces near-fields which transfer energy from the photon to the electron, similar to the inverse-Smith–Purcell effect described in metallic gratings. This, in

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have the potential to revolutionize the interface between our physical and digital worlds. Recent advances in digital processing, data transmission, optics, and display technologies offer new opportunities for ubiquitous AR/VR applications. The foundation of this revolution is based on AR/VR display systems with high image fidelity, compact formfactor

The advent of chirped-pulse amplification in the 1980s and femtosecond Ti:sapphire lasers in the 1990s enabled transformative advances in intense laser–matter interaction physics. Whereas most of experiments have been conducted in the limited near-infrared range of 0.8–1 μm, theories predict that many physical phenomena such as high harmonic generation in gases favor long laser wavelengths in terms

Owing to advances in fabrication technology and device design, semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) are evolving as a promising candidate for future optical coherent communication links. This review article focuses on the fundamentals and broad applications of SOAs, specifically for optical channels with advanced modulation formats, as an integrable broadband amplifier in commercial transponders

Space-time wave packets (STWPs) constitute a broad class of pulsed optical fields that are rigidly transported in linear media without diffraction or dispersion, and are therefore propagation-invariant in the absence of optical nonlinearities or waveguiding structures. Such wave packets exhibit unique characteristics, such as controllable group velocities in free space and exotic refractive phenomena

Realizing efficient on-chip light sources has long been the “holy-grail” for Si-photonics research. Several important breakthroughs were made in this field in the past few years. In this article, we review the most recent advances in light sources integrated onto mainstream Si platforms and discuss four different integration technologies: Group IV light sources on Si, heterogeneous integration of III–V

Integrated optical devices will play a central role in the future development of nonlinear quantum photonics. Here we consider the generation of nonclassical states of light within them with a focus on Gaussian states beyond the low-gain, single photon pair regime accurately described by perturbation theory. Starting from the solid foundation provided by Maxwell’s equations, we then move to applications

Deep learning has been revolutionizing information processing in many fields of science and engineering owing to the massively growing amounts of data and the advances in deep neural network architectures. As these neural networks are expanding their capabilities toward achieving state-of-the-art solutions for demanding statistical inference tasks in various applications, there appears to be a global

During the past few years, the optics and photonics communities have renewed their attention toward transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), which for over two decades have been broadly employed for the fabrication of transparent electrodes in photovoltaic and communication technologies. This reinvigorated research curiosity is twofold: on the one hand, TCOs, with their metal-like properties, low optical

Understanding the phenomenon of rogue wave formation, often called extreme waves, in diverse branches of nonlinear science has become one of the most attractive domains. Given the great richness of the new results and the increasing number of disciplines involved, we are focusing here on two pioneering fields: hydrodynamics and nonlinear optics. This tutorial aims to provide basic background and the

The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of mode-division and spatial-division optical fiber sensors, mainly encompassing interferometers and advanced fiber gratings. Compared with their single-mode counterparts, which have a very mature field with many highly successful commercial applications, multimodal configurations have developed more recently with advances in fiber device fabrication

The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of mode-division and spatial-division optical fiber sensors, mainly encompassing interferometers and advanced fiber gratings. Compared with their single-mode counterparts, which have a very mature field with many highly successful commercial applications, multimodal configurations have developed more recently with advances in fiber device fabrication

Polarization, the path traced by light’s electric field vector, appears in all areas of optics. In recent decades, various technologies have enabled the precise control of light’s polarization state, even on a subwavelength scale, at optical frequencies. In this review, we provide a thorough, high-level review of the fundamentals of polarization optics and detail how the Jones calculus, alongside Fourier

Light has played a crucial role in the age of information technology and has facilitated the soaring development of information optics. The ever-increasing demand for high-capacity optical devices has prompted the use of physically orthogonal dimensions of light for optical multiplexing. Recent advances in nanotechnology, mainly stemming from functionalized nanomaterials and powerful nanofabrication

This publisher’s note contains a correction to Adv. Opt. Photon. 13, 643 (2021) [CrossRef] .

We present a correction to Eq. (42) in Adv. Opt. Photon. 12, 612 (2020) [CrossRef] .

Photonic integration has seen tremendous progress over the previous decade, and several integration platforms have reached industrial maturity. This evolution has prepared the ground for miniaturized photonic sensors that lend themselves to efficient analysis of gaseous and liquid media, exploiting large interactions lengths of guided light with surrounding analytes, possibly mediated by chemically

We discuss recent developments in measurement protocols that generate quantum entanglement between two remote qubits, focusing on the theory of joint continuous detection of their spontaneous emission. We consider a device geometry similar to that used in well-known Bell state measurements, which we analyze using a conceptually transparent model of stochastic quantum trajectories; we use this to review

Nanophotonics is an important branch of modern optics dealing with light–matter interaction at the nanoscale. Nanoparticles can exhibit enhanced light absorption under illumination by light, and they become nanoscale sources of heat that can be precisely controlled and manipulated. For metal nanoparticles, such effects have been studied in the framework of thermoplasmonics, which, similar to plasmonics

Fano resonance is a universal phenomenon observed in many areas where wave propagation and interference are possible. Fano resonance arises from the interference of broad and narrow spectra of radiation and becomes an important tool for many applications in the physical, chemical, and biological sciences. At the beginning of this paper, we consider Fano resonances in individual particles, primarily

We present an erratum to correct the x, z labels in Figs. 6 and 7 from Adv. Opt. Photon. 10, 484 (2018) [CrossRef] .

In this paper, we review spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM), a common-path, phase-shifting interferometer, built onto a phase-contrast microscope, with white-light illumination. As one of the most sensitive quantitative phase imaging (QPI) methods, SLIM allows for speckle-free phase reconstruction with sub-nanometer path-length stability. We first review image formation in QPI, scattering

We present a general theory of optical coherence tomography (OCT), which synthesizes the fundamental concepts and implementations of OCT under a common 3D $k$-space framework. At the heart of this analysis is the Fourier diffraction theorem, which relates the coherent interaction between a sample and plane wave to the Ewald sphere in the 3D $k$-space representation of the sample. While only the axial

Lithium niobate (LN), an outstanding and versatile material, has influenced our daily life for decades—from enabling high-speed optical communications that form the backbone of the Internet to realizing radio-frequency filtering used in our cell phones. This half-century-old material is currently embracing a revolution in thin-film LN integrated photonics. The successes of manufacturing wafer-scale

Topological photonics is a new and rapidly growing field that deals with topological phases and topological insulators for light. Recently, the scope of these systems was expanded dramatically by incorporating non-spatial degrees of freedom. These synthetic dimensions can range from a discrete ladder of cavity modes or Bloch modes of an array of waveguides to a time-bin division (discrete time steps)

Automated human gesture recognition is receiving significant research interest, with applications ranging from novel acquisition techniques to algorithms, data processing, and classification methodologies. This tutorial presents an overview of the fundamental components and basics of the current 3D optical image acquisition technologies for gesture recognition, including the most promising algorithms

Quantum cryptography is arguably the fastest growing area in quantum information science. Novel theoretical protocols are designed on a regular basis, security proofs are constantly improving, and experiments are gradually moving from proof-of-principle lab demonstrations to in-field implementations and technological prototypes. In this review, we provide both a general introduction and a state of

Automated human gesture recognition is receiving significant research interest, with applications ranging from novel acquisition techniques to algorithms, data processing, and classification methodologies. This tutorial presents an overview of the fundamental components and basics of the current 3D optical image acquisition technologies for gesture recognition, including the most promising algorithms

The transistor has revolutionized civilization. The photon will enable the next revolution provided that photomechanical materials, which convert light energy into mechanical work, can be made substantially more efficient. This tutorial develops a unified picture of the photomechanical response from its microscopic origins to the bulk response. A statistical model of the relationship between the photomorphon

Since their invention in 1986 by Arthur Ashkin and colleagues, optical tweezers have become an essential tool in several fields of physics, spectroscopy, biology, nanotechnology, and thermodynamics. In this Tutorial, we provide a primer on how to calibrate optical tweezers and how to use them for advanced applications. After a brief general introduction on optical tweezers, we focus on describing and

We review the impact of deep-learning technologies on camera architecture. The function of a camera is first to capture visual information and second to form an image. Conventionally, both functions are implemented in physical optics. Throughout the digital age, however, joint design of physical sampling and electronic processing, e.g., computational imaging, has been increasingly applied to improve

We comprehensively review the quantum theory of the polarization properties of light. In classical optics, these traits are characterized by the Stokes parameters, which can be geometrically interpreted using the Poincare sphere. Remarkably, these Stokes parameters can also be applied to the quantum world, but then important differences emerge: now, because fluctuations in the number of photons are

Programmable integrated photonics is an emerging new paradigm that aims at designing common integrated optical hardware resource configurations, capable of implementing an unconstrained variety of functionalities by suitable programming, following a parallel but not identical path to that of integrated electronics in the past two decades of the last century. Programmable integrated photonics is raising

Programmable integrated photonics is an emerging new paradigm that aims at designing common integrated optical hardware resource configurations, capable of implementing an unconstrained variety of functionalities by suitable programming, following a parallel but not identical path to that of integrated electronics in the past two decades of the last century. Programmable integrated photonics is raising

We present a bi-orthogonal approach for modeling the response of localized electromagnetic resonators using quasinormal modes, which represent the natural, dissipative eigenmodes of the system with complex frequencies. For many problems of interest in optics and nanophotonics, the quasinormal modes constitute a powerful modeling tool, and the bi-orthogonal approach provides a coherent, precise, and

Off-axis holographic multiplexing involves capturing several complex wavefronts, each encoded into off-axis holograms with different interference fringe orientations, simultaneously, with a single camera acquisition. Thus, the multiplexed off-axis hologram can capture several wavefronts at once, where each one encodes different information from the sample, using the same number of pixels typically

Editor-in-Chief Guifang Li announces the new editorial advisory board for the Journal.

Microwave signal filtering is a fundamental and central functionality in radio-frequency (RF) systems. Underpinned by advanced integrated photonics technologies, emerging integrated microwave photonic (IMWP) filter platforms enable reconfigurable and widely tunable RF signal filtering functionalities that were unattainable using conventional electronics while also exhibiting superior features in terms

This work presents a review on the effect of transverse mode instability in high-power fiber laser systems and the corresponding investigations led worldwide over the last decade. This manuscript includes the description of the experimental observations, the physical origin of this effect, as well as some of the proposed mitigation strategies.