Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.5
1.9
Journals
Photonics
Special Issues
Emerging Topics in Atmospheric Optics
share announcement

Emerging Topics in Atmospheric Optics

A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical Communication and Network".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 730

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xuan Qian

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20A Road, Chaoyang District, 100101 Beijing, China
Interests: astronomical techniques and methods; atmospheric optics; optical turbulence; numerical forecast; machine learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Congming Dai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Hefei Institutes of Physical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 350 Shushanhu Road, Hefei 230031, China
Interests: laser and infrared atmospheric transmission; atmospheric optical properties and measurement techniques; radiation model

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,               

The theory of and techniques in atmospheric optics, as well as the principle of light wave propagation, have been widely applied in multiple fields, such as atmospheric radiology, environmental science, weather forecasting, astronomical observation, aviation flight, remote sensing, and communication technology. With the development of ground-based telescope observation, laser communication, high-power laser applications, and atmospheric transmission, among others, the influence of atmospheric optical effects must be also considered and corrected. It is also essential to fully investigate the attenuation and other effects of light waves on any path during atmospheric transmission, and address beam quality degradation during propagation to the far field.

This Special Issue aims to present the latest advances in atmospheric optics, including measurement and correction techniques, scientific methods, and applications, in addition to the results of analyses on atmospheric optical parameters, among others. We are excited to invite researchers to submit their contributions to this Special Issue. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Atmospheric optics;
  • Optical turbulence;
  • Adaptive optics;
  • Atmospheric transmission;
  • High-power lasers;
  • Laser communication. 

Dr. Xuan Qian
Dr. Congming Dai
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

  • atmospheric optics
  • optical turbulence
  • adaptive optics
  • laser communication
  • laser and infrared atmospheric transmission
  • radiation
  • laser application

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

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

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

19 pages, 4320 KB  
Article
Principal Component Analysis-Based Convolutional Neural Networks for Atmospheric Turbulence Aberration Correction and the Optimal Preprocessing Strategy Research
by Jiangpuzhen Wang, Danni Zhang, Ying Zhang, Wanhong Yin, Bing Yu, Tao Jiang, Yunlong Mo, Chengyu Fan and Jinghui Zhang
Photonics 2026, 13(4), 326; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics13040326 - 26 Mar 2026
Viewed by 410
Abstract
This study proposes a principal component analysis-based convolutional neural network (PC-CNN) to correct atmospheric turbulence-induced aberrations. Unlike traditional Zernike polynomials (ZPs)-based methods (ZP-CNN), PC-CNN avoids mode aliasing and cross-coupling via the strict orthogonality of principal components (PCs). A coefficient magnification strategy is incorporated [...] Read more.
This study proposes a principal component analysis-based convolutional neural network (PC-CNN) to correct atmospheric turbulence-induced aberrations. Unlike traditional Zernike polynomials (ZPs)-based methods (ZP-CNN), PC-CNN avoids mode aliasing and cross-coupling via the strict orthogonality of principal components (PCs). A coefficient magnification strategy is incorporated to further enhance efficacy, maximally preserving the intrinsic physical information within the PCs coefficients. A series of systematic experiments was conducted under conditions from weak to strong turbulence, characterized by D/r0 from 1 to 25, where D is the pupil diameter and r0 is the atmospheric coherence length. Quantitative results show PC-CNN achieves a lower mean relative error (MRE) in coefficient prediction than ZP-CNN under equivalent conditions. It also yields a higher Strehl ratio, reduced speckles, and enhanced spot clarity while requiring fewer basis terms, demonstrating high stability and robustness in strong turbulence. These findings emphasize that basis function orthogonality and physically informed preprocessing are critical design principles for deep-learning-based wavefront sensor-less adaptive optics (AO), establishing a robust foundation for real-time intelligent AO systems in astronomy and free-space optical communications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Topics in Atmospheric Optics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-1
Back to TopTop