From their initial demonstration and fabrication in the late 80s, grating technology in optical fiber has gained significant attention as a sensing platform for physical, electrical, and biochemical detection. Moreover, the use of periodic structures in waveguides that exploit diffraction effects in a similar way has also become a subject of interest. Throughout the following decades of grating sensor technology, generational improvements have allowed for a substantial increase in the performance of sensing networks and an increase in commercial devices as well as emerging applications.

This Special Issue of Photonics reflects the rise of grating sensing technologies, focusing on all aspects of research and development of grating-related sensors. This Special Issue emphasizes research and review manuscripts that focus on experimental design, interrogation methods, test and design, and the application of grating sensors, as well as sensors based on Bragg grating variations (such as tilted, chirped, etched, superstructured, aperiodic, subwavelength gratings). We foresee that by providing researchers working on grating topics with a platform to publish their recent results, we can provide the research community with a wide breadth of research that encompasses design, experimental validation, and testing.

Dr. Min Rui
Dr. Xuehao Hu
Dr. Carlos Marques
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Photonics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Passive sensors: LPG, FBGs, TFBGs, SSFBG, aperiodic, subwavelength gratings
• Active sensors: laser/amplifier sensors, frequency comb-based sensors
• Interrogation techniques for sensors: TDM, WDM, OFDM, OTDR, phase-OTDR, CDMA, MWP, THz, and their combinations
• Fabrication of Bragg grating sensors: waveguides, silica fibers, POF, MCF, MMF, FMF
• Optical chemical and biological sensors
• Biomedical optical sensors
• Micro and nano-engineered sensors
• Nanophotonic and plasmonic biosensors
• Sensing for food quality control
• Health monitoring sensors
• Environmental and industrial monitoring sensors.