Technical Scope

SC1: Novel fibres, fibre devices and amplifiers

• Physics of light propagation in optical fibres
• Optical fibre design, fabrication and characterisation
• Specialty optical fibres for improved transmission performance
• Low-latency fibres and fibres for new wavelength ranges
• Fibre-based devices
• Fibre amplifiers and fibre lasers
• Multimode & multicore fibre and fibre amplifiers
• Highly nonlinear fibres and their applications
• Fibres for sensing applications
• Fiber installation, connectors, splicing, reliability

SC2: Discrete photonic devices and technologies

• Novel material platforms and structured materials
• Design, fabrication and characterisation of novel devices for integration and functionality
• Detectors and sources, directly modulated lasers and VCSELs
• Hybrid III-V/Group IV materials and devices for silicon photonics
• Nanophotonics
• Optoelectronic devices
• Ultrafast devices and technologies

SC3: Photonic Integrated Circuits, assemblies and packaging

• Integrated III-V devices
• Large-scale photonic integrated circuits
• Packaging of devices, testing of performance and reliability
• Co-packaged optical and electronic ICs (2D, 2.5D and 3D)
• System-on-a-chip (SoC) and on-chip networks
• Advanced analog and digital electronic/optical co-integrated circuits
• Nonlinear waveguides for optical signal processing
• Reconfigurable photonic integrated circuits
• Photonic integrated circuits for neuromorphic applications and Artificial Intelligence
• Frequency combs and microresonators

SC4: Signal processing for optical communication systems

• Algorithms for DSP in optical transmission systems
• Modelling and design of DSP
• Experimental demonstration of DSP
• Design, implementation and implications of reduced complexity DSP algorithms
• Comparison of conventional DSP with neuromorphic or machine learning techniques
• Real-time DSP implementations for optical communications

SC5: Theory of optical communications

• New transmission system modelling methods
• Capacity, reach, flexibility limits of optical transmission systems
• System level implications of physical impairments and impairment mitigation techniques
• Novel error correction coding
• Advanced data encoding and signal shaping
• Information theory for optical communications

SC6: Optical transmission systems

• Lab/field demonstrations of optical transmission links deploying novel fibres, devices, subsystems and multiplexing techniques
• Link system demonstrations using novel signal modulation techniques
• Analog and nonlinear signal processing subsystems demonstrating transmission enhancements
• Multiplexing and demultiplexing subsystems for improved transmission
• Demonstration of spatially multiplexed transmission links
• Subsea links and cable deployment
• Sensing and optical performance monitoring techniques and subsystems

SC7: Core and Metro networks

• Core and metro optical network architectures
• High capacity optical transport networks
• Submarine optical networks
• Optical node architectures supporting also fast reconfigurability
• Optical layer resilience and security
• Optical network deployments and field trials
• Inter data centres interconnection
• Systems and nodes supporting optical switching and regeneration functionalities
• Optical switching and routing in long haul and core networks

SC8: Access, indoor and short-reach for data centres and mobile networks

• Fibre-to-the-premises (FTTx) and optical access networks
• Passive optical networks
• In-building optical networks
• Intra data centre interconnect networks
• High performance computer networks
• Backhaul, midhaul and fronthaul networks for mobile applications
• Highly parallel network and interconnect demonstrations
• Photonics for Cloud and low latency services
• Optical switching and routing in short-reach networks

SC9: Photonics for RF and Free-Space optics applications

• Microwave photonics subsystems
• Millimetre-wave and THz photonics signal generation/detection
• Demonstration of optics-based THz wireless subsystems
• Demonstration of analog radio-over-fibre systems for 5G and beyond
• Optical wireless communication (subsystems and networks)
• LiFi and VLC communication networks
• Satellite photonic communication links
• Lab/field demonstration of free-space optical wireless transmission
• Photonic wired/wireless communication network solutions

SC10: Architecture, control and management of optical networks

• Control, orchestration, and management of optical networks
• Multi-layer network architecture, design and modelling
• SDN/NFV enabled optical networking
• Planning and scaling of hybrid optical/optoelectronic networks
• Applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in monitoring, control and management of optical networks
• Zero-touch network and Service Management (ZSM) for optical networks and interfaces
• Network reliability, survivability, security and disaster recovery

SC11: Quantum technologies, systems and networks

• Quantum optics and quantum communication
• Quantum nanophotonics
• Quantum interfaces
• Coherent transfer from the optical to the microwave domain
• Quantum memories for photons
• Quantum networks architecture, switching, routing and protocols
• Quantum light sources and detectors
• Theory of quantum communication systems
• Use case and demonstration of quantum communication systems
• Quantum cryptography lab/field demonstration
• Quantum computing interconnect
• Quantum repeaters
• Co-existence of quantum and classical network
• Quantum Internet architecture