Photonics — the scientific study and application of light — has evolved to become a key technology behind many devices found in the modern home, factory and research lab. Today, the field is both a Nobel Prize-winning science and a multibillion-dollar industry, underpinning applications such as telecommunications, data storage, flat-panel displays and materials processing.
It is estimated that more than 3,000 university departments and institutes around the world are currently involved in photonics research. At the same time, optics-related societies in the US, Europe and Asia now have a combined membership of around 250,000 scientists and engineers. In 2005, more than 68,000 research papers were published that related to photonics, according to data collected from the US Institute of Scientific Information (ISI).
Launching in January 2007, Nature Photonics will be a new monthly journal dedicated to this dynamic and growing sector that will publish top-quality, peer-reviewed research, complemented with reviews, market analysis, news features and perspectives from authors based in industry.
Coverage will extend from research into the fundamental properties of light and how it interacts with matter, through to the latest designs of optoelectronic devices and emerging applications that exploit photons.
The mission of Nature Photonics is to report ground-breaking research conducted in both academia and industry that either provides a new and important insight into scientific understanding or describes a novel technology that will help enable the applications of tomorrow.
Unlike many other publications in the field, Nature Photonics is not tied to a single application or topic of interest such as displays or telecommunications. Instead, we will publish a selection of the highest quality research from all aspects of the field. This research will be carefully reviewed to ensure that it is not only of great interest to the entire optics community, but also likely to generate maximum impact.
In addition, Nature Photonics will complement this top-tier peer-reviewed research with articles written by journalists, market analysts and industry specialists on topics such as technology commercialization, business trends and emerging applications.
To whet your appetite, here is a small sample of the types of article that you can expect to find when you open a copy of Nature Photonics next year. I hope that you find it as exciting to read as I did to prepare.
