This year, Applied Optics launched a new feature highlighting optics research at international institutes, including government labs, universities, and industries. It is our hope that these focus issues will draw attention to the optics work being done around the world and to the institutions where the work is taking place.

The Optical Society of America (OSA) has previously highlighted work at specific institutions in other formats. In 1980, Professors Don O’Shea and Bill Rhodes wrote an article in Optics News showcasing optics research at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) [1]. It is befitting, yet coincidental, that 24 years later, the initial feature issue also highlights optics at Georgia Tech; in fact, the article by O’Shea and Rhodes was rediscovered after the call for papers was released. At the time the Optics News article was written, optics at Georgia Tech was in its infancy, with 18 courses across multiple schools. Optics research and education presents challenges for students and faculty that include the diversification of the field across units on campus. The sharing of laboratory resources and the development of a curriculum that allows students to take electives across departments requires coordination and cooperation. In 1980 there were two primary departments with optics activities. Today, Georgia Tech optics activity is spread across at least eight departments and applied research laboratories that cover areas in biophotonics, diffractive and holographic optics, nonlinear optics, optical communication systems, optical materials, IR systems, lidar, and optical systems modeling and development. Research topics in the 1980’s included spectroscopy, holographic data storage, optical imaging systems, fiber optics detectors, and IR missile launch-detection systems. Georgia Tech has expanded the optics research base as indicated by the diversity of the papers in this focus issue.

The article topics featured—only a small sampling of the optics and photonics research at Georgia Tech—include fiber optics, lidar, optical materials, ultra-short pulse measurements techniques, lithography, and partially coherent imaging. The contributions represent three departments on campus with optics research: the Georgia Tech Research Institute, the School of Physics, and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The advancements in optical system measurements is a common theme among the papers. Measurements include ultra-short laser pulses, atmospheric aerosols, and field of view losses in bathymetric lidar [2–8].

Measurement of any physical phenomena requires accuracy and a means of validation. Three papers centered on measurement address distinctive problems for various applications. Along the lines of measurements of isotope identification, developments of new scintillator material combined with spectroscopy are presented for use in the radiation scanners for increased throughput as compared with current techniques [3]. The other papers present simulations and models of imaging systems with partially coherent light and phase reconstruction techniques, or through multiple optical axis pattern integrated inference exposure systems [4]. The authors present the systems and unique approaches to analysis and design. A contribution using signaling technologies for fiber optic links is presented that can be applied to numerous applications [8].

The Georgia Tech Focus Issue appeared in the June 20, 2014, issue of Applied Optics. The next institutional focus issue, published August 20, 2014, highlighted optics research at Sandia National Laboratories. To suggest an institution for coverage in a focus issue, please e-mail aomss@osa.org.