Optica Publishing Group publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed articles in its portfolio of journals, which serve the full breadth of the optics and photonics community.

Applied Optics publishes in-depth peer-reviewed content about applications-centered research in optics. These articles cover research in optical technology, photonics, lasers, information processing, sensing and environmental optics.

Applied Optics' research articles should:

  • Concentrate on practical applications of science and technology,
  • Introduce new science or technology by either increasing understanding of existing research or reporting novel applications,
  • Include the development and performance of technologies when applying theories,
  • Provide sufficient background, detail, and explanation so that others can reproduce the results, and so that the significance of the work is clear.

In addition to original research articles, invited review articles, and comments on published articles, Applied Optics is now publishing Engineering and Laboratory Notes (E&L Notes). E&L Notes are brief articles devoted to the design, analysis, fabrication, integration, alignment, and measurement techniques used when creating optical components and systems. E&L Notes offers a unique way to publish observations from your engineering notebook in Applied Optics.

Submission Information

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Key Journal Metrics

Impact Factor: 1.9*

Total Citations: 53,706*

Cited Half-Life: 12.3 years*

Journal Citation Indicator: 0.59*

Google Scholar h5-index: 55

Median Time to First Decision: 31 days

Median Time to Web Publication: 89 days

*Source: 2023 Journal Citation Reports® (Clarivate, 2023).

2023 Google Scholar Optics & Photonics Top Publications.

For more information on Journal metrics, click here.

Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief

Gisele Bennett,

MEPSS LLC, USA

Deputy Editors

Muhammad Nadeem Akram

University College Southeast Norway, Norway

Martha Rosete-Aguilar

National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

Weiyao Zou

Zygo Ametek, USA

Features Editors

Jeremy P. Bos

Michigan Technological University, USA

Md Selim Habib

Florida Institute of Technology, USA

David Haefner

U.S. Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, USA
(Engineering and Laboratory Notes)

Topical Editors

Ibrahim Abdulhalim

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
(Optics and Devices of Liquid Crystals, Plasmonic Sensors, and Interferometric Imaging)

Vijayakumar Anand

Institute of Physics, University of Tartu, Estonia
(Holography, Imaging, Microscopy, Diffractive Optics, Microfabrication and Synchrotron IR and THz Imaging)

Oriol Arteaga

University of Barcelona, Spain
(Polarization, Polarimetry, Ellipsometry, and Polarimetric Imaging)

Santasri Bose-Pillai

Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), USA
(Beam Propagation and Imaging through Atmospheric Turbulence; Turbulence Characterization, Compensation and Mitigation; Optical Coherence and Statistical Optics)

Nicholas Devaney

National University of Ireland, Galway
(Adaptive Optics)

Manuel De la Torre Ibarra

Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica A.C., Mexico
(Interferometry, Digital Image Processing, Opto-mechatronic Systems and Programming)

Christiano J. S. de Matos

Mackenzie Presbyterian University in Brazil, Brazil
(Nonlinear Optics; Photonic Crystal Fibers; 2D Materials; Raman Spectroscopy; Integrated Photonics; Photonic Sensing; Plasmonics; Nanophotonics)

Fei Ding

University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
(Nanophotonics, Plasmonics, Metasurfaces, and Quantum Nanophotonics)

Peter Dragic

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
(Optical Fiber and Optical Devices)

Daniele Farnesi

Institute of Applied Physics "Nello Carrara" (IFAC-CNR), Italy
(Optical Resonators, Fiber Optics, Integrated Optics, Optomechanics and Nonlinear Optics)

Joyce Farrell

Stanford University, USA
(Image Processing and Systems)

Catalin Florea

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co, USA
(Waveguides, Infrared Materials, Devices and Systems)

Orges Furxhi

Imec USA, USA
(Imaging Systems)

Alexander Goncharov

National University of Ireland, Galway
(Optical Design and Metrology)

Stephen Grib

Lockheed Martin—Space, USA
(EO/IR Sensors and Systems, Solid-state Lasers, Spectroscopy, Nonlinear Optics)

Simonetta Grilli

National Research Council (CNR), Italy
(Information Processing, Holography)

Byoung Seung Ham

Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), S. Korea
(Quantum Optics, Quantum Interference)

Khan Iftekharuddin

Old Dominion University, USA
(Machine Learning/AI for Information Processing and Image Processing)

Young L. Kim

Purdue University
(Biomedical Optics)

Caroline Lai

Rockley Photonics, USA
(Optical Communication)

Jin Li

Beihang University, China
(Holographic Displays, Optical Imaging, Metasurface Holography, Cameras, Computational Imaging, Atom Magnetometer)

Rebeca Martínez Vázquez

Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IFN)—CNR, Italy
(Integrated Optics, Femtosecond Laser Micromachining, High-order Harmonic Generation, Direct Laser Writing, Lab on a Chip)

Andrey Matsko

Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech, USA
(Optoelectronics, Quantum Optics, and Light Matter Interaction)

Jay Louise Nadeau

Portland State University, USA
(Biomedical Optics, Optical Design and Fabrication)

Kara Peters

North Carolina State University, USA
(Fiber Optical Sensors)

Nikolay Petrov

ITMO University, Russia
(Digital and Display Holography, Imaging and Microscopy, Ultrafast Optics, Structured Light)

Federico Pirzio

University of Pavia, Italy
(Solid-state lasers, Ultrafast lasers, and Laser materials)

Stavros Pissadakis

FORTH-IESL, Greece
(Photonic Devices and Fiber Sensors)

Wen Qiao

Soochow University, China
(3D Display, Diffraction, Flat Lens, Micro/nano-fabrication)

Jarkko J. Saarinen

University of Eastern Finland, Finland
(Materials Science and Spectroscopy)

Mark Spencer

Air Force Institute of Technology, USA
(Directed energy, Laser systems, Beam control, Phase Compensation, Atmospheric and deep turbulence, Thermal blooming, Aero-optics, Wavefront sensing, Adaptive optics, Rough surface scattering, Speckle phenomena, Digital holography, Coherent detection, Unconventional and Computational imaging)

Christopher Stolz

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA
(Optical Materials and Laser Interactions with Optical Materials)

Liangbi Su

Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, CAS, China
(Solid State Lasers, Optical Materials, Novel Crystals, and Laser Materials)

Juha Toivonen

Tampere University, Finland
(Optical Spectroscopy and Lidar)

Pengfei Wang

Harbin Engineering University, China
(Fiber Optic Devices and Sensors)

Yiping Wang

Shenzhen University, China
(Fiber Sensors)

Yi Zheng

Northeastern University, USA
(Metamaterials and Metasurfaces; Functional Energy Materials; Energy Harvesting and Storage; Dynamic Tuning of Optothermal Properties; Light-matter Interaction)

Jiangfeng Zhou

University of South Florida, USA (Terahertz and Photonic Metamaterial)

Leimeng Zhuang

Imec USA, USA
(Optical signal processing; Photonic integrated circuits; Optical communications; Microwave photonics; Integrated optics)


Engineering and Laboratory Notes Review Panel

David Haefner, Features Editor, U.S. Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, USA

Erwan Baleine, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, USA

Matthew Fisher, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, USA

Orges Furxhi, imec USA, USA

John Nunn, MKS Instruments, Inc., USA

Austin Richards, FLIR Systems, Inc., USA

Staff

Editorial and Production E-mail Phone
Nicole Williams-Jones, Peer Review Coordinator aomss@optica.org 202-416-1969
Feature Proposals dmcdonold@optica.org
Cristina Kapler, Managing Editor ckapler@optica.org 202-416-1489
Dan Dawes, Senior Production Editor
Reprints Sheridan Electronic Order Center
Publication charges billing@optica.org
General Information E-mail
Copyright permission requests copyright@optica.org
Online Journal Technical Support elec@optica.org
Elizabeth Nolan, Chief Publishing Officer
Kelly Cohen, Senior Publisher
M. Scott Dineen, Senior Director, Publishing, Production & Technology.
Christopher Videll, Director, Production & Technology
Carmelita Washington, Peer Review Manager
Daphne Greenwood, Senior Director of Marketing & Sales, Publishing