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Feature Issue of Applied Optics

Laser Applications to Chemical, Security and Environmental Analysis 2022

Submission Opens: 15 July 2022

Submission Deadline: 15 September 2022

Applied Optics welcomes submissions to a feature issue on "Laser Applications to Chemical, Security and Environmental Analysis" in conjunction with the Laser Applications to Chemical, Security and Environmental Analysis (LACSEA) topical meeting collocated with the Optical Sensors and Sensing Congress, which will take place on 11-15 July 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The feature issue will address all aspects of optical techniques and instrumentation for chemical, security, and environmental analysis, including diagnostics of combustion and industrial process gases, atmospheric sensing and monitoring, and the analysis of gases that may contain chemical or biological agents. It will cover sensing of liquids (e.g., aerosols) and solids (e.g., particulates, explosives or nuclear material), and exciting new developments in analytical spectroscopy, ultrafast lasers, frequency combs, and miniaturization using optical approaches spanning the VUV to THz spectral range.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • New technologies in laser sources for optical sensing applications
    • Continuous wave, pulsed, modulated lasers and their characterization
    • High-repetition-rate sources
    • Broadband lasers
    • Ultrafast lasers
    • Frequency combs
  • Chemical sensing methods:
    • Spectroscopic sensing of gases, aerosols, and particulates
    • Combustion and industrial process monitoring
    • Real-time control
    • Energy topics
    • Extension of techniques toward the VUV or THz spectral ranges
    • Novel methods for spectroscopic science and chemical analysis
    • Nonlinear optical techniques
    • Extension to multiple points or to volumetric measurements
    • High-repetition-rate imaging
    • Sensor miniaturization
    • Extension and improvement of spectroscopic databases
  • Security applications
    • Optical diagnostics of nuclear material
    • Remote sensing
    • Miniaturization, optical lab-on-chip systems, and silicon photonics
    • Distributed sensor networks
    • Biochemical/biophysical applications of laser techniques
    • Use of new sources offering high power or pulse energy
    • Industrial security monitoring & Industrial Process Control
  • Environmental analysis
    • Atmospheric sensing of gases, solids, and liquids
    • Atmospheric chemistry
    • Advancements in LIDAR
    • Extension and improvement of spectroscopic databases
    • Airborne sensor systems
    • Ruggedized sensor systems
    • Propagation of laser beams through scattering media
    • Urban, Rural and Volcanic Emission Measurements

All submissions need to present original, previously unpublished work and will be subject to the normal standards and peer review processes of the journal. The standard Applied Optics Article Publication Charges will apply to all published articles. To be eligible for publication, an expanded conference paper needs to add value to the original conference proceedings and the conference paper number must be included in the cover letter at submission. Please see Optica Publishing Group's guidelines on expanded conference papers for details.

Please prepare manuscripts according to the author instructions for submission to Applied Optics and submit through our electronic submission system, specifying from the drop-down menu that the manuscript is for the feature issue on LACSEA.

Feature Editors

Christoph Arndt, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany (Lead Editor)

Frank Beyrau, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany

Joakim Bood, Lund University, Sweden

Paul Hsu, Spectral Energies LLC, USA

Anil Patnaik, Air Force Institute of Technology, USA

Anna-Lena Sahlberg, Lund University, Sweden