Breakthroughs in Photonics 2013

Breakthroughs in Photonics is a Special Issue of the IEEE PHOTONICS JOURNAL that brings a compilation of short reviews describing significant accomplishments in selected areas of Photonics within the last year. Breakthroughs in Photonics 2013 contains 15 invited comprehensive, refereed reviews written by experts that cover progress in the areas of Photon sources from far infrared to X-rays; Photonics materials and engineered photonic structures; Nano-photonics; Biophotonics; Imaging and Visualization; Integrated photonic systems; and Terahertz photonics. Photon sources focus on recent advances in semiconductor lasers, including Raman lasers, modelocked lasers, and electrically pumped semiconductor entangled sources. Photonics materials and engineered photonic structures describes novel optics and engineered nanophotonics structures that are tailored to manipulate light from the infrared to the X-ray. Nanophotonics covers advances in nano-antennas which are promising for applications in sensing and telecommunications, among others. Biophotonics describes schemes that make use of nanoplasmonics for label-free sensing of biological samples. Four reviews in imaging describe the latest advances in holography, Fourier ptycographic imaging, quantitative phase imaging, and photoacoustic tomography and their multiple applications, including biology and biomedicine. Integrated photonic systems presents an overview of the main achievements in feedback-controlled integrated photonics. Terahertz photonics covers recent advances in sources and their applications, in particular in wireless communications that have the potential to achieve 100 Gbits/s.