Ultrafast Coherent Scattering and Imaging

Dear Colleagues,

The aim of this Special Issue is to retain strong relevance for readers interested in ultrafast phenomena with an expanded scope that seeks to include researchers belonging to a thriving community working on XPCS, DLS, ultrafast speckle metrology, and real-time coherent imaging using both photons and electrons.

The scope of this Special Issue encompasses the following:

• This Special Issue highlights recent advances in time-resolved and coherence-enabled scattering, imaging, and spectroscopy techniques that probe dynamic processes in complex systems. Ultrafast optical, electron, and X-ray sources are currently reaching unprecedented levels of brilliance, coherence, and timing resolution through the deployment of free-electron lasers, tabletop ultrafast lasers, 4D, etc.
• STEM and newly upgraded diffraction-limited storage rings—a surge of new techniques are leveraging speckle, correlation, and coherent interference to extract information at femtosecond-to-second timescales.

We invite contributions that explore experimental methods and theoretical frameworks across the following topics:

• Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and time-resolved speckle techniques;
• X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) and ultrafast coherent X-ray scattering;
• Coherent electron microscopy and 4D STEM imaging;
• Structured illumination, PRBS modulation, and binary correlation methods;
• FPGA-based or real-time correlation analysis hardware/software;
• Applications in soft matter, phonon and thermal transport, glassy systems, and out-of-equilibrium materials.

This Special Issue ultimately aims to connect developments in ultrafast optics with coherent detection strategies, highlighting how emerging technologies are reshaping our ability to observe stochastic, collective, and nanoscale dynamics.

Prof. Dr. Eric Landahl
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.