Advances in Hollow-Core Fiber Technologies and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Hollow-core fibers (HCFs) have emerged as a well-established and rapidly evolving class of optical waveguides in which light is guided through an air or vacuum core rather than a solid medium. Their guiding mechanism is associated with a range advantages with regard to solid core fibers, including ultra-low latency, reduced nonlinearities, and broadband transmission. Their growing adoption across diverse fields such as high-power laser delivery, nonlinear optics, sensing, and telecommunications underscores their pivotal role in advancing modern photonics.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue highlighting recent advances in the science, engineering, and application of hollow-core fiber technologies. We welcome contributions that address breakthroughs in fiber design, fabrication techniques, loss mitigation strategies, and integration with photonic devices and systems.

Particular emphasis will be placed on novel applications spanning telecommunications, high-power laser delivery, quantum optics, nonlinear optics, sensing, and gas-based photonic systems. Both theoretical and experimental works are welcome, as well as review articles that synthesize current knowledge and outline future directions.

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

• Design and fabrication of novel hollow-core fiber structures;
• Loss reduction strategies and low-loss HCF demonstrations;
• HCF-based transmission systems and optical interconnects;
• Ultrafast and high-power light delivery;
• Quantum communication and entanglement distribution in HCFs;
• Nonlinear and gas-based optics in hollow-core waveguides;
• Sensing and environmental monitoring applications;
• Integration of HCFs with photonic and optoelectronic platforms.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Federico Melli
Dr. Lorenzo Rosa
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

• hollow-core fibers
• design
• fabrication
• sensing
• communication
• non-linear applications
• quantum applications