The Recent Advancements and Applications of Microwave Photonics
A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical Interaction Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 118
Special Issue Editors
Interests: microwave photonic signal generation and measurement; radio-over-fiber
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Microwave photonics (MWP) is an interdisciplinary field that merges microwave engineering and photonic technologies to generate, distribute, process, control, and detect radio-frequency (RF), millimeter-wave, and terahertz signals in the optical domain. By exploiting the ultra-wide bandwidth, low transmission loss, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and flexible tunability of photonic systems, microwave photonics has emerged as a powerful solution to overcome the intrinsic bottlenecks of conventional electronic technologies in high-frequency and broadband signal processing.
In recent years, the rapid growth of 5G/6G communications, satellite networks, integrated sensing and communication, radar, electronic warfare, broadband wireless access, and photonic-assisted terahertz systems has significantly expanded the application scope of microwave photonics. At the same time, advances in photonic integrated circuits, semiconductor lasers, high-speed modulators, optical frequency combs, microresonators, programmable photonic processors, and artificial intelligence-assisted design have greatly accelerated the development of compact, low-cost, and high-performance microwave photonic systems. These advances are enabling practical implementations of microwave photonic signal generation, filtering, beamforming, frequency conversion, analog-to-digital conversion, and sensing in increasingly demanding scenarios.
This Special Issue focuses on recent progress in the principles, devices, architectures, and applications of microwave photonics. It aims to provide a platform for reporting state-of-the-art research on both fundamental technologies and emerging practical applications, especially those that promote higher frequency, larger bandwidth, better integration, lower power consumption, and enhanced intelligence in microwave photonic systems. Researchers are invited to submit their contributions to this Special Issue. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Microwave photonic signal generation;
- Microwave photonic signal processing;
- Optical frequency combs-enabled microwave photonics;
- Photonic beamforming and phased-array systems;
- Microwave photonics for radar, sensing, and imaging;
- Radio-over-fiber;
- Integrated sensing and communication enabled by microwave photonics;
- Integrated microwave photonics;
- Photonic-assisted analog-to-digital conversion and signal measurement.
Dr. Peng Li
Dr. Hongyi Zhang
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
- RF photonics
- radio-over-fiber
- microwave photonics signal processing
- integrated microwave photonics
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