Optical and Photonic Metrology: Science and Technology

Dear Colleagues,

Optical measurement and metrology are essential to modern science, engineering, and industry, enabling non-contact, high-precision, and high-speed characterization of physical, chemical, and biological systems. Optical techniques are fundamental tools across fields ranging from advanced manufacturing and surface engineering to biomedical diagnostics, micro–nano technologies, and space instrumentation.

Driven by rapid progress in photonics, imaging systems, laser sources, detectors, and computational methods, optical metrology is advancing rapidly. Modern techniques such as interferometry, digital holography, optical coherence tomography, structured light, scatterometry, and hyperspectral imaging are continually evolving. At the same time, integrating numerical modelling, inverse methods, and artificial intelligence is significantly enhancing the accuracy, robustness, and information content of optical measurements.

This Special Issue presents recent advances in optical measurement and metrology, spanning theoretical foundations, instrumentation development, data-processing methods, and emerging applications. Original research articles and high-quality review papers are welcome.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Optical measurement principles and metrological methods;
• Interferometric and coherence-based techniques;
• Digital holography and computational optical metrology;
• Surface, form, and thin-film characterization;
• 3D optical measurement and imaging systems;
• Optical profilometry and topography analysis;
• Micro- and nano-scale optical metrology;
• Optical sensors and smart measurement systems;
• Calibration, traceability, and uncertainty evaluation;
• AI-assisted and inverse-problem-based optical measurement;
• Optical measurement in industrial environments;
• Biomedical and biophysical optical metrology;
• Novel photonic devices and systems for measurement;
• Applications of optical metrology in manufacturing, materials science, and applied physics.

This Special Issue aims to provide an interdisciplinary platform for researchers and practitioners in optics, photonics, and metrology, promoting the exchange of ideas between fundamental developments and practical measurement challenges.

Dr. Dawid Kucharski
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. 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.