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Photonics
Special Issues
Advancements in Optical Measurement Techniques and Applications
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Advancements in Optical Measurement Techniques and Applications

A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical Interaction Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 August 2026 | Viewed by 5057

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yuping Ye

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory of Human-Machine Intelligence-Synergy Systems, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
Interests: optical measurement; 3D reconstruction; computer vision
Dr. Juan Zhao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
Interests: information optics; optical 3D nondestructive testing; virtual reality

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Optical measurement techniques have become increasingly important in various scientific and industrial fields due to their high precision, non-invasive nature, and ability to provide real-time data. Recent advancements have significantly enhanced their accuracy and broadened their range of applications, making them indispensable in industries such as manufacturing, quality control, and medical device production. The development of these technologies is inherently multidisciplinary, involving optics, mechanics, materials science, electronics, and computer science. This Special Issue aims to explore the latest innovations and applications in optical measurement, highlighting their impact on modern technology and industry.

This Special Issue aims to publish selected contributions on “Advancements in Optical Measurement Techniques and Applications.” Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Applications of optical measurement;
  • Optical sensors and instrumentation;
  • Advances in spectroscopy and imaging;
  • Optical metrology in manufacturing and industry;
  • Environmental monitoring using optical methods;
  • Optical measurement in telecommunications;
  • Optical applications in ocean exploration;
  • Applications of optical measurements in the life sciences;
  • Optical measurements for space research;
  • Integration of optical measurement techniques with other technologies.

Dr. Yuping Ye
Dr. Juan Zhao
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 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. 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.

Keywords

  • applications of optical measurement
  • optical sensors and instrumentation
  • advances in spectroscopy and imaging
  • optical metrology in manufacturing and industry
  • environmental monitoring using optical methods
  • optical measurement in telecommunications
  • optical applications in ocean exploration
  • applications of optical measurements in the life sciences
  • optical measurements for space research
  • integration of optical measurement techniques with other technologies

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 3850 KB  
Article
Alignment of Large-Aperture Infrared Refractive Optical Systems Utilizing Multi-Zone CGH-Assisted Centering
by Chao Zhang, Weijian Liu, Yang Huang, Shengjie Zhang and Junhua Yan
Photonics 2026, 13(2), 111; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics13020111 - 26 Jan 2026
Viewed by 173
Abstract
High-precision centering alignment of the lens is crucial for ensuring the imaging quality of refractive optical systems. A multi-zone computer-generated hologram (MZ-CGH) was designed and utilized for centering a large-aperture refractive infrared lens. Different from traditional methods that use the line connecting the [...] Read more.
High-precision centering alignment of the lens is crucial for ensuring the imaging quality of refractive optical systems. A multi-zone computer-generated hologram (MZ-CGH) was designed and utilized for centering a large-aperture refractive infrared lens. Different from traditional methods that use the line connecting the geometric centers of lens spheres as the optical axis for alignment, the minimization of transmitted wavefront aberrations detected via interferometry is employed as the target for lens centering. According to the structure design, the large-aperture lens is divided into a front barrel integrated with lenses 1–3, a back barrel integrated with lenses 4–5, and a separated lens 6. An MZ-CGH contains three main zones with compensation information for testing the transmitted wavefront of lenses 1–3, according to the alignment and centering sequence. The method is applied to align and analyze errors in an infrared optical system with a clear aperture of 400 mm, achieving lens decenter errors better than 5 μm. After alignment, the wavefront errors of the infrared optical system within ±7° of the field of view are better than RMS 0.07λ, with an average MTF higher than 0.5, demonstrating significant value for engineering applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Optical Measurement Techniques and Applications)
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16 pages, 2348 KB  
Article
Plastic Scintillating Fiber Mesh Array Detector for Two-Dimensional Gamma-Ray Source Localization Using an Artificial Neural Network
by Jinhong Kim, Sangjun Lee, Jae Hyung Park, Seunghyeon Kim, Seung Hyun Cho, Chulhaeng Huh and Bongsoo Lee
Photonics 2025, 12(12), 1227; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12121227 - 12 Dec 2025
Viewed by 301
Abstract
In this study, a two-dimensional gamma-ray source localization system using a mesh array of plastic scintillating fibers and an artificial neural network is presented. The system covers a 200 cm by 100 cm area using SCSF-78 multi-cladded fibers. A novel U-shaped fiber topology [...] Read more.
In this study, a two-dimensional gamma-ray source localization system using a mesh array of plastic scintillating fibers and an artificial neural network is presented. The system covers a 200 cm by 100 cm area using SCSF-78 multi-cladded fibers. A novel U-shaped fiber topology connects both fiber ends to one side, requiring only two data-acquisition systems. Silicon photomultiplier arrays measure fast time-of-flight under optimized operating conditions to maximize signal yield. An independent artificial neural network model map measured time-of-flight values to spatial coordinates, compensating for systematic non idealities. Performance was validated using a Cesium-137 source at 20 random test positions. The artificial neural network method achieved a mean full-scale error of 4.6%. This demonstrated a 79.34% accuracy improvement over direct theoretical calculation, which had a mean full-scale error of 22.5%. The system showed consistent performance, achieving a two-dimensional standard deviation of 0.492 cm during repeatability assessment. This methodology provides a practical, efficient approach to two-dimensional radiation source localization suitable for real time monitoring and contamination mapping. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Optical Measurement Techniques and Applications)
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20 pages, 4701 KB  
Article
FMCW LiDAR Nonlinearity Compensation Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning with Hybrid Prioritized Experience Replay
by Zhiwei Li, Ning Wang, Yao Li, Jiaji He and Yiqiang Zhao
Photonics 2025, 12(10), 1020; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12101020 - 15 Oct 2025
Viewed by 632
Abstract
Frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) LiDAR systems are extensively utilized in industrial metrology, autonomous navigation, and geospatial sensing due to their high precision and resilience to interference. However, the intrinsic nonlinear dynamics of laser systems introduce significant distortion, adversely affecting measurement accuracy. Although conventional iterative [...] Read more.
Frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) LiDAR systems are extensively utilized in industrial metrology, autonomous navigation, and geospatial sensing due to their high precision and resilience to interference. However, the intrinsic nonlinear dynamics of laser systems introduce significant distortion, adversely affecting measurement accuracy. Although conventional iterative pre-distortion correction methods can effectively mitigate nonlinearities, their long-term reliability is compromised by factors such as temperature-induced drift and component aging, necessitating periodic recalibration. In light of recent advances in artificial intelligence, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has emerged as a promising approach to adaptive nonlinear compensation. By continuously interacting with the environment, DRL agents can dynamically modify correction strategies to accommodate evolving system behaviors. Nonetheless, existing DRL-based methods often exhibit limited adaptability in rapidly changing nonlinear contexts and are constrained by inefficient uniform experience replay mechanisms that fail to emphasize critical learning samples. To address these limitations, this study proposes an enhanced Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) algorithm incorporating a hybrid prioritized experience replay framework. The prioritization mechanism integrates modulation frequency (MF) error and temporal difference (TD) error, enabling the algorithm to dynamically reconcile short-term nonlinear perturbations with long-term optimization goals. Furthermore, a time-varying delayed experience (TDE) injection strategy is introduced, which adaptively modulates data storage intervals based on the rate of change in modulation frequency error, thereby improving data relevance, enhancing sample diversity, and increasing training efficiency. Experimental validation demonstrates that the proposed method achieves superior convergence speed and stability in nonlinear correction tasks for FMCW LiDAR systems. The residual nonlinearity of the upward and downward frequency sweeps was reduced to 1.869×10−5 and 1.9411×10−5, respectively, with a spatial resolution of 0.0203m. These results underscore the effectiveness of the proposed approach in advancing intelligent calibration methodologies for LiDAR systems and highlight its potential for broad application in high-precision measurement domains. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Optical Measurement Techniques and Applications)
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23 pages, 14051 KB  
Article
A Novel Method for Water Surface Debris Detection Based on YOLOV8 with Polarization Interference Suppression
by Yi Chen, Honghui Lin, Lin Xiao, Maolin Zhang and Pingjun Zhang
Photonics 2025, 12(6), 620; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics12060620 - 18 Jun 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1389
Abstract
Aquatic floating debris detection is a key technological foundation for ecological monitoring and integrated water environment management. It holds substantial scientific and practical value in applications such as pollution source tracing, floating debris control, and maritime navigation safety. However, this field faces ongoing [...] Read more.
Aquatic floating debris detection is a key technological foundation for ecological monitoring and integrated water environment management. It holds substantial scientific and practical value in applications such as pollution source tracing, floating debris control, and maritime navigation safety. However, this field faces ongoing challenges due to water surface polarization. Reflections of polarized light produce intense glare, resulting in localized overexposure, detail loss, and geometric distortion in captured images. These optical artifacts severely impair the performance of conventional detection algorithms, increasing both false positives and missed detections. To overcome these imaging challenges in complex aquatic environments, we propose a novel YOLOv8-based detection framework with integrated polarized light suppression mechanisms. The framework consists of four key components: a fisheye distortion correction module, a polarization feature processing layer, a customized residual network with Squeeze-and-Excitation (SE) attention, and a cascaded pipeline for super-resolution reconstruction and deblurring. Additionally, we developed the PSF-IMG dataset (Polarized Surface Floats), which includes common floating debris types such as plastic bottles, bags, and foam boards. Extensive experiments demonstrate the network’s robustness in suppressing polarization artifacts and enhancing feature stability under dynamic optical conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Optical Measurement Techniques and Applications)
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16 pages, 5620 KB  
Article
Online Optical Axis Parallelism Measurement Method for Continuous Zoom Camera Based on High-Precision Spot Center Positioning Algorithm
by Chanchan Kang, Yao Fang, Huawei Wang, Feng Zhou, Zeyue Ren and Feixiang Han
Photonics 2024, 11(11), 1017; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics11111017 - 29 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1392
Abstract
Ensuring precise alignment of the optical axis is critical for achieving high-quality imaging in continuous zoom cameras. However, existing methods for measuring optical axis parallelism often lack accuracy and fail to assess parallelism across the entire focal range. This study introduces an online [...] Read more.
Ensuring precise alignment of the optical axis is critical for achieving high-quality imaging in continuous zoom cameras. However, existing methods for measuring optical axis parallelism often lack accuracy and fail to assess parallelism across the entire focal range. This study introduces an online measurement method designed to address these limitations by incorporating two enhancements. First, image processing methodologies enable sub-pixel-level extraction of the spot center, achieved through improved morphological processing and the incorporation of an edge tracing algorithm. Second, measurement software developed using Qt Creator can output real-time data on optical axis parallelism across the full focal range post-measurement. This software features a multi-threaded architecture that facilitates the concurrent execution of image acquisition, data processing, and serial communication. Experimental results derived from simulations and real data indicate that the maximum average error in extracting the center of the spot is 0.13 pixels. The proposed system provides critical data for optical axis calibration during camera adjustment and inspection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancements in Optical Measurement Techniques and Applications)
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