Topics

As the IEEE Photonics Society's flagship meeting, the IEEE Photonics Conference's topics cover vast technical areas within the photonics community and the interests of our members. Attendees will be able to participate in plenaries, invited talks, panel discussions, tutorial sessions, short courses, and virtual outreach events across the conference's topical areas.

Biophotonics (BIO)

Biophotonics describes the interaction of light with biological molecules, cells, and tissues. It covers diagnostic sensing and imaging applications as well as therapeutic uses of light. The Biophotonics subcommittee is soliciting papers in this multi-disciplinary field, covering the development, or refinement, of instruments and methods involving photonics technology for applications in life sciences and medicine. The conference focuses on the technical and engineering aspects of new technologies and innovative approaches for sensing, imaging, signal and image processing, optical actuation, and therapy, rather than translation of biophotonics to biological and medical applications.

Specific topics of interest include instruments, devices, methods, algorithms, and materials for:
• Imaging of cells and tissues:
– Microscopy, including high-throughput, high-speed and super-resolution strategies
– Optical tomography, including optical coherence tomography, photoacoustic imaging, and diffuse imaging methods
– Spatial frequency domain and spectroscopic imaging
• Endoscopy and other guided-wave implementations of imaging, such as catheters and needles
• Biomedical spectroscopy, including Raman, fluorescence, and other techniques
• Wavefront engineering for biomedical imaging, such as adaptive optics, light-sheet imaging, and imaging through scattering media
• Computational imaging and computation and modeling in imaging and sensing
• Materials (nano-, meta-, plasmonic) to enable emerging biophotonics applications
• Biosensors, such as point-of-care devices, fiber sensors, and lab-on-chip, including micro- and opto-fluidics
• Light and photonics-based techniques and procedures in biological manipulation, including optical trapping and actuation
• Therapeutic uses of light and photonics-based technology

Displays and Lighting (DISL)

The subcommittee topic on Displays and Lighting covers technical advances in materials, fabrication methods, device designs, and applications related to mainstream and upcoming lighting and display technologies. Efficient lighting systems such as solid-state light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and organic LEDs (OLEDs) promise significant conservation and greener usage of electrical energy. As a multi-billion industry, display technology advances are leading the way for new human-device interactions. Innovations in panel displays, smart phones, e-book readers, augmented reality, and flexible displays are examples. These display and lighting technologies are enabling novel applications in many areas, for example manufacturing, communications, and health.

Displays technology example topics include:
• Backlight units – designs, display integration, flexible, mini/micro-LED local dimming, dual-cell displays
• MicroLEDs – materials, assembly methods, designs, metrology, functional array yield and uniformity, applications
• Flexible displays – rollable and foldable technologies, roll-to-roll manufacturing technologies, device designs, applications
• Display materials –liquid crystals, organic light-emitting-diode (OLED), LED
• Backplane technologies – active matrix, passive matrix, micro-driver IC, TFT materials, fabrication methods
• Green technology – low power operation, energy efficiency for mobile applications
• Augmented reality, virtual reality, and 3D displays technology – design, fabrication, human interaction factor
• Color conversion – materials, integration

Lighting technology example topics include:
• Smart and digital lighting applications
• Efficient solid-state lighting
• Laser-based lighting
• Novel color-converting materials
• White LEDs with high efficiency
• Organic LEDs and inorganic LEDs
• Flexible lighting systems
• Efficient and low cost light distribution

Health and human factors:
• Lighting – CRI targeting natural lighting, devices for low/no UV and blue emission, healthy lighting
• AR/VR human interaction

Microwave Photonics – Avionics and Vehicular Fiber-Optics & Photonics (MWP-AVFOP)

In recent years there has been substantial progress in the field of fiber optic and microwave photonic systems on a variety of commercial, mobile and military platforms. With the advances in high-speed optical components, subsystems and photonic integration architectures, these trends are expected to increase. As applications expand, it is critical for the community to assess the opportunities and challenges associated with deploying microwave photonic systems in the field and on platforms while requiring operation in challenging and sometimes harsh environments. The AVFOP technical subcommittee solicits papers on recent advances in this multidisciplinary field, including:
• Components for analog systems (including low noise lasers, modulators, and photodetectors for microwave, millimeter wave, and terahertz frequencies)
• Novel modeling and simulation of microwave photonic (MWP) components and systems
• Photonic signal generation, characterization, and distribution for microwave, millimeter-wave, and terahertz applications
• LADAR/LiDAR systems and applications
• Free space optical communication links for air and ground vehicles
• Qualification and packaging of photonic components, systems and standards for field and platform applications in harsh environments
• MWP Subsystems and integration of photonic-electronic platforms (including photonic filtering, conversion between analog and digital signals, manipulation of microwave amplitude and phase in the optical domain)
• Modeling/simulations and demonstrations of monolithic, heterogeneous and hybrid MWP integrated platforms)
• Vehicle optical network architectures, wavelength division multiplexing and components
• Operation and maintenance of fielded photonic systems

Nanophotonics (NANO)

The Nanophotonics Committee solicits papers and presentations addressing a broad spectrum of optics at the nanometer scale, covering technology and basic science. Novel optical phenomena and extreme responses of light-matter interactions at nanoscale hold promise for development of photonic technologies that are compact, fast and efficient. Topics of interest and focus but not limited are summarized below:
• Basic science of strong light-matter interaction
• Optical properties of nanostructures and structured surfaces
• Linear, nonlinear and ultrafast spectroscopy at the nanoscale
• Quantum dots, nanostructured LEDs and lasers
• Plasmonics, metamaterials and metal optics
• Photonic bandgap structures
• Nano resonators and apertures
• Chiral light-matter interactions
• Microscopy and imaging with sub-wavelength resolution
• Novel nano-fabrication and nanolithography techniques
• Technologies enabled and powered by nanophotonics including high density optical data storage, as well as applications in high-bandwidth communications
• Nanostructured solar power generation
• Nanophotonic color generation for displays
• Optical nano-biosensors
• Topological nanophotonics
• Inverse design for nanophotonics

Non-Linear and Ultrafast Optics (NLUO)

The subcommittee on Nonlinear and Ultrafast Optics solicits papers on recent discoveries, advances, and developments in the field of nonlinear optical interactions with materials and in the science and technology of ultrafast electronics, photonics, and optoelectronics. Topics of interest include new concepts and their implementations as well as significant advances are summarized in the following:

• Fundamental nonlinear optical physics and material properties including nonlinear materials, metamaterials and plasmonic materials
• Nonlinear frequency conversion processes and devices including parametric amplification and oscillation
• Spontaneous parametric down-conversion for applications in quantum optics
• Optical frequency combs and applications
• Nonlinear integrated devices and circuits
• Intense field phenomena
• Spontaneous and stimulated Raman scattering
• Guided waves and solitons
• Applications of nonlinear optics in laser and optical light amplification
• THz generation and propagation, photonics, devices, and applications
• Switching, modulation, and communication
• Optical storage
• Attosecond physics and applications
• Novel ultrafast and fiber sources
• Broadband and supercontinuum sources
• Propagation, measurement, processing, and detection of ultrashort optical and electronic pulses
• Ultrafast optical, electronic and optoelectronic materials, components, devices, and systems
• Novel applications of ultrafast technology in the investigation of transient phenomena in physics, electrical engineering, and material science
• X-ray generation using ultrafast laser pulses

Optical Communications and Networks (OCN)

This sub-committee solicits papers on analysis, modeling, demonstration, and implementation of digital optical networks and systems, ranging from telecom and datacom applications to radio-over-fiber and free-space. The topics include (but are not limited to) the following:

Optical Fiber Transmission Systems and Subsystems
• Optical modulation, detection, coding, and digital signal processing in single mode fibers and spatial division multiplexing systems
• Impairments specific to digital optical fiber communication systems (e.g., fiber nonlinearity, dispersion, concatenated filtering, multi-path interference, linear and nonlinear crosstalk of WDM channels, cores, or modes)
• Optical and electronic mitigation of impairments in digital optical fiber communication systems
• Machine learning methods for signal processing and network planning and design
• All-optical signal processing
• Design, performance and control of network elements and nodes

Core and Metro Optical Networks
• Optical network architectures, design and performance evaluation
• Traffic modelling, routing algorithms and protocols
• Bandwidth allocation algorithms and protocols
• Optical performance monitoring for transport networks
• Energy efficient/green optical networks
• Optical network security
• Elastic networks and networking
• Transport network demonstrations, test-beds, and field trials

Access Optical Networks and Systems
• High-speed optical access system technologies and applications 
• WDM-PON, TDM-PON, TWDM-PON and other multiple access PON technologies
• PON virtualization and network function virtualization applied to optical access
• Energy efficient optical access networks 
• FTTx and next-generation passive optical networks
• Access network demonstrations, test-beds, and field trials

Datacom and Computercom Networks and Systems
• Optical interconnect technologies (WDM/CWDM interconnects for integrated optics and parallel modules)
• Parallel optical coupling between fibers, chips and modules
• Optical interconnection network interfaces, protocols, arbitration and flow control
• Optical switching devices, architectures, and control schemes for data centers
• On-chip optical networks and integrated computer architectures
• Interconnection network architectures for datacenters

Radio-over-Fiber and Free Space Optical Systems
Radio-over-fiber and free-space optical systems, which are concerned with the development and improvement of broadband wireless communication systems and networks.
• Radio-over-fiber (RoF) systems including analog and digital transport
• Hybrid wireless-optical systems
• Visible and IR free-space optical communication systems, including visible light communications (VLC) and under-water communications

Optical Fiber Technology (OFT)

The subcommittee seeks original submissions in the general area of optical fiber technology. This includes but is not limited to, the material, shape and structural designs of optical fiber cores, claddings, coating, cables, and connectors, the measurement and study of optical fiber phenomena and properties, the use of optical fibers for passive and active components, such as, filters, optical amplifiers, lasers, sensors, probes, and the exploration of fundamental Physic. Example topics include but are not limited:
• Silica and non-silica, such as, chalcogenide, tellurite, and semiconductor, ad topological insulator optical fibers
• Circular, elliptical-, rectangular-, and ring-core single-, few-, multi-mode and multi-, disordered- and periodic-core graded- and step-index optical fibers
• Micro- and nano-structured, such as, hollow core and photonics crystal optical fibers
• Optical fiber lasers and light sources, such as, mode locked, supercontinuum and mid-infrared
• Optical fiber devices for optical fiber communication and signal processing
• Space and mode division multiplexing devices, such as, core and mode (de)multiplexers, switches, amplifiers for optical fiber and free space optical communication and lidar
• The use of few- and multi-mode optical fibers for microscopic and endoscopic imaging
• Distributed optical fiber sensing of acoustics, strain, pressure and temperature using Rayleigh, Raman, and Brillouin scattering
• Point optical fiber sensing of acoustics, strain, pressure, and temperature using Bragg gratings, optical fiber interferometers, and core and spatial mode coupling
• Nonlinearities, scattering, polarization and spatial mode coupling, and dispersion in single-, few-multi-mode, and multi-core optical fibers
• Polarization and spatial mode transmission matrix measurements of single-, few-, multi-mode , and multi-core optical fibers
• New applications of optical fibers

Optical Interconnects (OI)

The optical interconnects (OI) technical area is concerned with technical advances pertaining to the design and/or realization of components, devices, and architectures motivated to support high-speed optical interconnection at all levels – including intra-chip, chip-to-chip, board-to-board, and module-to-module technologies. The OI subcommittee solicits papers in the following topic areas:

• Optics for the datacenter (e.g. silicon photonics, VCSELs, etc.)
• Passive components (e.g. waveguides, WDM components, optical I/O, etc.)
• Active components (e.g. lasers, switches, modulators, and photodetectors for high speed/bandwidth interconnection)
• Integration and packaging solutions
• Advanced modulation or signaling schemes
• Advanced multiplexing schemes
• Switching and signal routing technologies
• Transceiver and module technologies
• Other emerging or novel interconnection solutions (e.g. free-space, underwater, etc.)

Optical Micro / Nano Resonators and Devices (OMND)

The Committee on Optical Micro/Nano Resonators and Devices encourages submission of papers on recent achievements in the field of optical micro/nano resonators, devices, and related phenomena. The committee is especially interested in contributions demonstrating significant advances in the performance, new resonance effects at micro/nano scale, innovative types and configurations, and new applications of optical and plasmonic microresonators.

Photonic Integration and Packaging (PIP)

Papers are solicited on the topic of photonic integration and packaging. Photonic devices include lasers, detectors, filters, couplers, multiplexers and sensors. Many examples are already complex integrated circuits in their own right, and further integration enables even more powerful function for high speed communication, precision metrology, sensing in increasingly diverse market segments.
Photonic Integrated circuits at diverse wavelengths leveraging both telecom (C- and O-bands) and non-telecom technology platforms are solicited. Advances in the different integration technologies, platforms for active materials such as GaSb, GaN, GaAs, InP, and passives such as silicon, silica, ultra-high Q silica, germanium, chalcogenide glasses, LiNbO3, and SiN are targeted. Selective area epitaxy, patterned growth, impurity disordering, wafer bonding, active-passive integration, are all techniques used for the integration of optical and electronic devices. Circuits and devices using photonic crystals and plasmonic waveguiding are welcome.
Packaging techniques including optical interposer are considered, addressing methods for further systems integration and integration with sensoric devices and micro-electro-mechanical devices. The attachment and connection to fiber and polymer waveguides and waveguide arrays, housings and systems on chip. Innovative bonding technologies, encapsulation, and methods for inserting photonic ICs into optical and electronic circuit boards are considered. Papers are also solicited on recent advances in manufacturing and packaging facilities supporting non-telecom photonics platforms.

Photonic Materials and Metamaterials (PMM)

The subcommittee on photonic materials science and technology solicits papers in all aspects of photonic materials, including materials science and technology, material growth and synthesis, heterogeneous integration, material characterization, and integration architectures. The subcommittee welcomes submissions in, but not limited to, the following areas:
• Material processing techniques I: growth and deposition including bulk and low-dimensional photonic materials and novel synthesis techniques for optical materials.
• Material processing techniques II: patterning, synthesis, and self-assembly.

• Structured and engineered materials systems, such as periodic and aperiodic structures, photonic crystals, plasmonics, metamaterials, and metasurfaces, etc.
• Design and simulation of novel material structures with specific material properties.
• Materials with novel electronic, optical, thermal, mechanical, and spin polarization properties, including the emerging class of 2D materials (graphene, MoS2, black phosphorus, etc.).
• Material engineering with strain, thermal, electrical, optical, and mechanical control.
• Heterogeneously integrated material systems, such as organic/inorganic integration, nanomembrane and thin film stacking, dielectric/metallic integration.
• Novel substrate integration techniques, including conventional semiconductors (III-Vs, Si, sapphire, etc), glass, plastics, conformal and flexible substrates.
• New material enabled device structures and integration schemes and architectures.

Photodetectors, Sensors, Systems (PSS)

The subcommittee on Photodetectors, Sensors and Imaging (PSS) solicits papers on all types of photodetectors, imaging, optical and electro-optical sensors, as well as their related materials, devices and systems. Topics of interest include:
• Novel photoconductive and photovoltaic materials and devices (including avalanche photodiodes, very high-speed detectors, and photodetectors based on organic materials) for the range of operation in the entire electromagnetic spectrum (gamma-ray, x-ray, UV, visible, near-IR, mid-IR, far-IR, terahertz, microwave and RF).
• Detector technologies that exploit novel phenomena to enhance performance, functionality and manufacturability including CMOS-compatible germanium detectors, plasmonic and metamaterial devices, microwave-photonic devices, nanoscale quantum structures (dots/wires/wells), superlattices, MCT detectors, MEMS-based wavelength-tunable sensors, quantum sensors, and bioinspired sensors.
• Novel photovoltaic devices and energy harvesting systems.
• Integrated detectors for silicon photonics.
• Devices, techniques and systems for single-photon detection.
• Imaging systems including high operating-temperature focal-plane arrays (FPAs) for thermal imaging, active CMOS imagers, multicolor and tunable FPAs for spectral imaging, hyperspectral imaging, polarization imagers, novel readout circuits, and smart-pixel FPAs.
• Methods for 3D imaging, visualization and recognition.
• Adaptive-optics systems for imaging and display.
• Holographic-based and incoherent-holographic-based imaging and sensing systems.
• Novel optical microsystems, optofluidic devices and fiber-optic sensors.
• Novel approaches for microobject manipulation, imaging and tracking in microfluidic environment.
• Advanced microscopes based on spatial light modulators, quantitative phase-contrast, super-resolution and computational imaging techniques.
• Compressive sensing and multichannel and multimodal data acquisition and imaging.
• Infrastructures for virtual laboratories and remote metrology.

Quantum Photonics Information Technologies (QPIT)

The topic focuses is on photonic engineering solutions and technologies for quantum information science. These encompass complex systems such communication links, high capacity quantum channels, small networks and quantum processing circuits as well as components comprising such systems, such as quantum gates, quantum encoders and transducers. We are interested in on-chip hybrid quantum photonic integration technologies and novel light-matter interactions paradigms as well as methods and approaches in creation, manipulation, control and transmission of entangled quantum states. Novel applications of small quantum processors and networks as well as technologies that enable these applications and functionalities in communication, sensing, metrology and quantum information processing.

Semiconductor Lasers (SL)

The subcommittee on Semiconductor Lasers solicits papers on recent advances in the growths, computational designs, new theoretical concepts, fabrications, and characterizations of semiconductor lasers. The subcommittee covers the basic sciences, devices, integrated technologies, and system-level implementation of semiconductor lasers. The laser devices and integrated technologies will cover emission wavelengths from extreme ultraviolet up to terahertz spectral regimes. The specific areas of interest covered by this subcommittee include:
• New theoretical and computational methods in semiconductor lasers
• New material and engineered nanoscale active regions in semiconductor lasers
• High-power lasers and laser arrays
• Visible and short-wavelength lasers
• Long-wavelength and quantum cascade lasers
• Vertical cavity and other surface-emitting lasers
• Optical communication lasers and transmitters
• On-chip laser sources for photonic integrated circuits
• Micro- / nanocavity lasers and related areas of plasmonics
• New semiconductor laser designs, materials, and fabrication techniques
• Semiconductor lasers in quantum technologies and quantum engineering
• Data sciences and machine learning in semiconductor laser designs
• Application of semiconductor lasers in cyber-physical systems, resilient infrastructures, internet-of-things, and autonomous systems.

Special Symposium on Electroluminescent Quantum Dot Displays and OLED Lighting (SS EQD)

This special symposium has separate sessions covering technical advances in Electroluminescent Quantum Dot Displays and OLED Lighting. Innovations in materials, fabrication methods, device designs, and applications will be covered. The special symposium is also consolidating papers in the following topics:
– Device design, fabrication, and integration
– Color conversion applications, materials, and device design
– Materials advances for efficiency and lifetime
– Electronic driving

Special Symposium for Machine Learning in Photonic Systems (SS MLPS)

Machine Learning has seen applications in various Science and Engineering disciplines and is providing new tools to the Optics and Photonics community. This symposium will gather leading researchers in optical communications, photonic and nanophotonic devices as well as optical imaging to discuss how machine learning address latest challenges in their respective fields and shed light on its emerging role in pushing performance limits. It will also highlight the photonic implementations of deep neural networks.

This special symposium also welcomes submissions of contributed papers on the application of machine learning techniques to photonics systems, which will complement and enrich the invited program. The symposium will foster communication and collaboration through networking among the individual engineers and researchers attending and will give the opportunity to attendees to learn more about the rapid advances in the interplay between machine learning and photonic systems.

Special Symposium on Optical Frequency Combs: Science, Technology and Applications (SS OFC)

Since their invention two decades ago, optical frequency combs (OFCs) have become a cornerstone of modern photonics. The advent of OFCs has provided a powerful new tool for precise measurement and control of optical frequencies, opening the door to a diverse range of applications across a multitude of scientific and technological disciplines, from frequency metrology to high-field physics, spectroscopy, remote sensing, precision distance measurement, non-invasive disease diagnosis, cancer detection, breath analysis, waveform synthesis, optical communications, astronomy, and several still-evolving research fields.

This special symposium is dedicated to the science, technology and applications of OFCs from fundamental concepts to technological development and applications. The symposium will bring together the leading pioneers in the field of OFCs who will present invited talks, and welcomes submissions of contributed papers on the latest research results in the area which will greatly complement and enhance the technical program. The symposium will provide a unique platform for exchange of ideas and further promotion of interaction and collaboration among the OFC research community and related fields.