AOT is giving back: 10 Best reviews and tutorials for free
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Andreas Thoss
Andreas Thoss studied Physics and received his diploma and PhD degrees from the Free University Berlin in 1995 and 2003, respectively. For both degrees, he did research at the Max-Born-Institute Berlin in the field of ultrashort and ultra-intense laser pulses. From 1996 to 1999, he worked as a development engineer for medical laser systems with Aesculap-Meditec (now ZEISS Meditec) in Jena. In 2003, he joined the international publishing house, John Wiley & Sons. There, he gathered comprehensive experience as publisher, editor, and commissioning editor in the areas of book, journal, and online publishing. Among others, he cofounded the journals,
Laser & Photonics Reviews (2007) and theJournal of Biophotonics (2008). Since its foundation in 2010, he manages THOSS Media, where he cofoundedAdvanced Optical Technologies. Michael Pfeffer graduated in 1998 from the Institute of Applied Optics at EPFL (Switzerland), obtaining his PhD for a thesis in the field of Optical Nanotechnology. In 2002, after several years of working in the Swiss optics industry, he was appointed Full Professor of Optics and Engineering in the Department of Physical Engineering of Hochschule Ravensburg-Weingarten, University of Applied Sciences (Germany). Dr. Pfeffer teaches and researches in the field of optics, physical instrument design, and nanotechnology. Currently, he serves as Vice-Rector for Research and International Relations. In 2005, the General Membership Meeting elected him to the Executive Board and CEO for the DGaO Annual Meeting 2006. From 2008 to 2012 he served as President of the German Society of Applied Optics (DGaO). In 2012 he was elected as Secretary of the Board of the European Optical Society (EOS). Dr. Pfeffer is member of the German Physical Society (DPG), the German Society of Engineers (VDI), and the Standards Committee Precision Engineering and Optics of the German Institute of Standardization (DIN).
When we started the journal, Advanced Optical Technologies, we had a vision to bring together scientific research and industry perspective in modern optics in a high level publication. Accordingly, we focused on tutorials and reviews as the most appropriate formats, particularly for readers from the industry.
AOT started in 2012; we published 61 papers, including 14 tutorials and 21 review articles in the first year. At the time, we already had reader registrations from more than 40 countries worldwide. The interest was the greatest in the USA, while we offered free access for 5,000+ mostly European members of our partner society, the European Optical Society (EOS).
Since then, we have published special issues on a large range of topics related to modern optics:
Active imaging
Consumer optics
Green photonics
Illumination and lighting technology
Image sensor devices
Integrated photonic devices
Lithography
Microoptics
Optical design
Optical instruments in life science/ microscopy
Optical materials
Optical coatings
Optical metrology
Opto mechanical engineering
Optics for astronomy
Optics for material processing
Polymer optics
Precision fabrication
Remote sensing devices
Standards (planned in 2015)
Giving back
Thanks to the thorough work of AOT authors and reviewers, we were able to collect a large number of insights on the main topics of applied optics in the 21st century. We have now selected 10 reviews and tutorials from the various fields and have given them back to the community in 1000 free copies of the journal.
It is worth mentioning that all scientific articles in AOT are subject to a double peer review by experts in the field. Their careful, yet speedy work allowed us to reduce average processing times, from submission to decision, to 49 days in 2014. All AOT reviewers receive public recognition in the January issue of the subsequent year.
What’s next?
Within the last 3 years, we covered a large number of interesting topics in the field of applied optics. Now, we will add some focus issues on new trends plus some updates on flourishing fields. The topics for the issues scheduled for the near future are:
Microlithography
Standards in optics
Computational optics
Spatial light Modulation: devices, materials and applications
Lighting
Beside the focus topics, AOT intends to publish papers from all fields of applied optics. These free submissions are published in a separate section in each issue.
Beyond the scientific papers, AOT reports conference reports and regular news from our partner society, EOS. Furthermore, we introduced a column called VIEWS, where people from the academic community as well as from the industry can publish essential information that might not directly match the criteria of scientific papers. These are market reviews, interviews or even individual views on the development of topics relevant to the optics community.
After all, it is a challenge and a great pleasure to develop this publication platform with the optics community in the industry and academia. For further improvements, we appreciate all kinds of feedback; please do not hesitate to contact us. You may contact us via email, our website: www.degruyter.com/aot or through various social media.
Yours sincerely,
Andreas Thoss
Publisher
Michael Pfeffer
Editor-in-Chief
About the authors
Andreas Thoss studied Physics and received his diploma and PhD degrees from the Free University Berlin in 1995 and 2003, respectively. For both degrees, he did research at the Max-Born-Institute Berlin in the field of ultrashort and ultra-intense laser pulses. From 1996 to 1999, he worked as a development engineer for medical laser systems with Aesculap-Meditec (now ZEISS Meditec) in Jena. In 2003, he joined the international publishing house, John Wiley & Sons. There, he gathered comprehensive experience as publisher, editor, and commissioning editor in the areas of book, journal, and online publishing. Among others, he cofounded the journals, Laser & Photonics Reviews (2007) and the Journal of Biophotonics (2008). Since its foundation in 2010, he manages THOSS Media, where he cofounded Advanced Optical Technologies.
Michael Pfeffer graduated in 1998 from the Institute of Applied Optics at EPFL (Switzerland), obtaining his PhD for a thesis in the field of Optical Nanotechnology. In 2002, after several years of working in the Swiss optics industry, he was appointed Full Professor of Optics and Engineering in the Department of Physical Engineering of Hochschule Ravensburg-Weingarten, University of Applied Sciences (Germany). Dr. Pfeffer teaches and researches in the field of optics, physical instrument design, and nanotechnology. Currently, he serves as Vice-Rector for Research and International Relations. In 2005, the General Membership Meeting elected him to the Executive Board and CEO for the DGaO Annual Meeting 2006. From 2008 to 2012 he served as President of the German Society of Applied Optics (DGaO). In 2012 he was elected as Secretary of the Board of the European Optical Society (EOS). Dr. Pfeffer is member of the German Physical Society (DPG), the German Society of Engineers (VDI), and the Standards Committee Precision Engineering and Optics of the German Institute of Standardization (DIN).
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