Ultrafast Pulse Shaping Techniques: From Temporal to Spatiotemporal Control

Dear Colleagues,

In the progress of photonics and optoelectronics, ultrafast pulse shaping has surfaced as a pivotal technology. Operating on femtosecond to picosecond timescales, this technology recently extended beyond temporally shaping to incorporate spatial modes, leading to structured light pulses and even more complex spatiotemporal beams. Such groundbreaking advancements have ushered in new explorative avenues in both classical and quantum optics, demonstrating potential in super-resolution imaging, nanofabrication, and quantum information processing. A diverse array of strategies is employed for ultrafast pulse control in the linear optics region. Among these, liquid crystal devices have shown significant promise due to their flexibility and tunability. Other notable methods include metamaterials, passive fibers, grating pairs, digital micromirror devices, etc. Additionally, ultrafast pulses can be controlled via intra-cavity nonlinear dynamics in lasers and microresonators or by using extra-cavity nonlinear devices.

In this Special Issue, "Ultrafast Pulse Shaping Techniques: From Temporal to Spatiotemporal Control", we invite contributions that underscore the recent advancements and innovative applications in this rapidly evolving field. We welcome theoretical, numerical, and experimental studies, including (but not limited to):

• Novel techniques for shaping ultrafast pulse in temporal, spatial, and spatiotemporal domains with the use of liquid crystal and other devices;
• Novel effects and techniques in frequency conversion;
• Ultrafast pulse characterization methods;
• Ultrafast light–matter interactions;
• Applications of ultrafast pulse shaping in super-resolution imaging, nanofabrication, quantum information processing, material science, and optical communications;
• Biomedical applications that leverage ultrafast pulse shaping;
• Exploration of ultrafast phenomena enabled by advanced pulse shaping;
• Pulse shaping in nonlinear optics and spectroscopy;
• Challenges and solutions in the development and application of advanced pulse shaping techniques.

Dr. Wei Chen
Dr. Jintao Fan
Dr. Lingling Ma
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 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 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.

• ultrafast pulse shaping
• structured light
• liquid crystals
• spatiotemporal optical fields
• super-resolution imaging
• nanofabrication
• quantum information processing
• nonlinear optics