Tunable Lasers

Dear Colleagues,

Lasers with a tunable output wavelength are necessary in many applications where a specific wavelength is required, but no fixed-wavelength laser exists for it, or the existing lasers do not provide the other needed performance parameters, such as the line width, pulse duration, or output power. Additionally, a number of analytical applications, as well as wideband spectral calibration and spectroscopy, call for laser sources with the ability for continuous wavelength tuning across a broad spectral range, while also delivering certain other radiation parameters, for example, the specified radiation coherence or repetition rate of ultra-short pulses. Modern tunable lasers are becoming more and more universal, offering not only wavelength tunability, but also many other competitive parameters. New broadband active media are being developed, and new solutions are being proposed on the basis of fibres, waveguides, micro-resonators, and other technologies. Novel methods of laser wavelength tuning are implemented, as are new ways of automatic control over radiation parameters, including machine learning and AI. The world of tunable lasers is dynamic, fascinating, and multi-faceted. Its unique concentration of advanced physics and technology are the reason tunable lasers are not only used as radiation sources for applications, but also as research platforms for the study of nonlinear, spatiotemporal, and other effects or phenomena. The Special Issue of the Photonics Journal will be dedicated to the results of the latest research and developments in the field of tunable lasers. We will consider contributed papers covering, but not limited to, the following topics:

1. Tunable laser concepts and architecture
2. Widely tunable lasers with no gap wavelength tuning
3. Wavelength selection methods
4. Methods of wavelength tuning/control and tuning techniques
5. Elements of tunable lasers (wavelength-selective elements, broadband mirrors, etc.)
6. Tunable lasers with new resonators: fiber, waveguide, WGM, cavity topologies, and so on.
7. Novel tunable lasers: spaser, biolaser, organic semiconductor laser, and so on
8. Tunability together with radiation special parameters capability
9. Precision and fast wavelength tuning
10. Theory of wavelength tuning and the modelling and optimization of tunable lasers
11. Extended tunability by nonlinear techniques
12. Closed/sealed/all-fiber cavity tunable laser oscillators
13. Monolithically integrated tunable lasers
14. Narrow-linewidth tunable laser and mode-hop-free tuning
15. Ultra-short pulse tunable lasers and wavelength-tunable wave-breaking-free operation
16. Swept and step-wavelength tunable lasers
17. Multi-wavelength lasers and multi-line tuning
18. Electronically/PC-controlled/automated tunable lasers
19. Machine learning methods for the control of laser’s spectral parameters
20. Tunable lasers as a research platform for general physical study (solitons, nonlinear and spatio-temporal dynamics, equilibrium states, extreme events, multistability and hysteresis phenomena, etc.)
21. Design and engineering of tunable laser-based instrumentation
22. Tunable laser applications.

Open for Submission: 25 March 2019

Prof. Dr. Sergey Kobtsev
Guest Editor

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.

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