Nonimaging Optics

Dear Colleagues,

Many important optical subsystems are concerned with power transfer and brightness rather than with image fidelity. Nonimaging optics is a design approach that departs from the methods of traditional optical design to develop techniques for optimizing the collecting power of optical systems. Nonimaging devices substantially outperform conventional imaging lenses and mirrors in these applications, approaching the theoretical (thermodynamic) limit. Nonimaging design methods usually involve solving ordinary or partial differential equations, calculating the flow lines of the ray bundles, coupling the edge rays of extended sources and targets, or optimizing a multi-parameter merit function computed by ray-tracing techniques. While geometrically based, the design fundamentals have been extended to the diffraction-limited and even sub-wavelength domain. Therefore, applicability exists in near-field optical microscopy and nanometer-scale optics.

This Special Issue invites the submission of manuscripts that document the current state-of-the-art in nonimaging optics. Nonimaging optics takes the perspective of optics based on the energy and thermodynamics. This perspective may be expanded into the information theory and phase-space quantification of etendue. It has produced and continues to produce innovations in particle science, illumination, cosmic ray measurement, solar concentration, information science, sensors, radiation pressure analysis, and even imaging problems. This Special Issue aims to develop new ideas and applications in the broad area of nonimaging optics. We will consider theoretical, numerical, and experimental papers that cover, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Advances in fundamental optics theory, which includes, but is not limited to, the following: thermodynamics of geometric optics; geometric flux theory; light field theory; radiation pressure; and the role of the vector potential and its gauge properties in optical design.
• Numerical simulations and theoretical efforts in the design of new nonimaging optical systems for solar concentration, illumination, radiation pressure, light trapping, and freeform optics applications.
• Experimental results and material analysis in radiative transfer, photovoltaic electricity generation, detection, lighting engineering, light-emitting diode (LED) and laser diode applications, and Cherenkov detectors.

Prof. Dr. Roland Winston
Dr. Angel García-Botella
Dr. Lun Jiang
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 papers will be 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 quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. 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.