The annual Laser Damage Symposium is the leading forum for the exchange of information on all aspects of laser-induced damage in materials for high-power/high-energy lasers. For over a half-century, the symposium has grown to be a highly comprehensive source of information on optics, materials for high-power/high-energy lasers, and various aspects of intensive laser interaction with the optical materials.  Over the past decade, participants of the Laser Damage Symposia expressed a strong demand to publish selected works in a peer-reviewed journal after presenting them at the conference. To meet that need, Special Sections on Laser Damage have been published by Optical Engineering on seven previous occasions dating back to 2012. These special sections have received remarkable attention from readers and experts from laser-damage and other related fields. The success of those special sections and the continuing demand from symposium participants have motivated an eighth Optical Engineering Special Section on Laser Damage.

Being a compilation of the most current research in a refereed format, these special sections provide a unique and centralized resource for the community, co-locating some of the most recent results. This special section is open for submissions from the participants of the Laser Damage Symposium and Pacific Rim Laser Damage Symposium of any year. We also invite researchers worldwide who wish to publish original and novel results, especially if they were not presented at the symposia. Subjects of interest for this special section include but are not limited to optical thin films, bulk optical materials, glasses, nonlinear crystals, semiconductors, fibers, and metaoptics materials with nanostructured surfaces. More specifically, topics of interest for this special section are:

• Measurements of laser-damage threshold
• Laser-induced damage test protocols
• Laser-component fabrication
• Optical materials for high-power and high-energy lasers
• Characterization of properties of the optical materials
• Characterization of defects in optical materials
• Novel materials for high-power lasers, i.e. metasurfaces and metaoptics
• Mid-infrared optical materials and nonlinear crystals
• Materials for thin films and thin-film preparation
• Thin-film properties, design, and durability
• Aging issues for laser optics
• Contamination of optical components
• Influence of ambient conditions on aging and surface contamination
• Novel methods of surface polishing and finishing/re-finishing for optical components
• Methods of laser-damage mitigation
• Final optics of high-power lasers and laser facilities
• Novel lasers and regimes of laser operation
• High-intensity laser-surface interactions
• Generation of periodic surface structures
• Fundamental effects of high-power laser-material interactions
• Fundamental mechanisms of laser damage of optical materials
• Ultrafast laser-material interactions
• Laser-material interactions at mid-infrared wavelengths
• Thermal effects of laser-material interactions
• Laser-defect interactions in optical materials
• Nonlinear effects in laser-solid interactions
• High-power propagation effects in transparent materials
• Modeling of intensive laser-material interactions

The guest editors also seek comprehensive review papers in the areas listed above. Authors interested in submitting a review paper to this special section should contact the guest editors with a brief proposal of the paper at their earliest convenience.

To submit a manuscript for consideration in the special section, please prepare the manuscript according to the journal guidelines and submit the paper via the online submission system. A cover letter indicating that the submission is intended for this special section should be included with the paper. Manuscripts published in the Proceedings of SPIE are welcome for submission to this special section after proper revision to meet the standards of a journal publication. Regular submissions will be peer-reviewed in accordance with the journal's established policies and procedures.

Artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) methods have greatly advanced in recent years with widespread applications, especially with respect to the automated extraction of information from imagery, voice, and text. More recent advances in generative artificial intelligence have further developed capabilities for synthetically producing imagery, voice, text, and even system designs and software based on large scale models and an expression of the user intent. These new and emerging capabilities are changing the way that data from infrared systems are processed and ultimately need to be considered in how infrared systems are designed and developed. This special section explores the application of AI/ML methods to all aspects of infrared system design, engineering, production, control, and data processing.

We invite contributions for this special section of Optical Engineering in the following areas of AI/ML application to infrared systems:

• AI/ML methods for object recognition and/or identification in infrared imagery
• AI/ML methods for infrared target detection and/or tracking, especially for low-contrast and poorly resolved targets in clutter
• Transfer learning for infrared systems
• Domain adaptation methods between infrared systems and other sensing modalities
• Synthetic generation of infrared imagery using AI/ML methods
• Infrared system quality metrics optimized for automated processing
• Autonomous control of infrared systems
• AI/ML methods for infrared system design

This call for papers is open to everyone. Presenters in the 2024 Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning joint session of the Infrared Technology and Automatic Target Recognition Conferences are especially encouraged to submit revised and expanded papers for consideration. Submitted papers must exhibit a specific application to infrared systems to be considered for this special section.

All submissions will be peer-reviewed. Peer review will start immediately upon manuscript submission, with the goal of making a first decision within six weeks. Special sections are opened online once a minimum of four papers has been accepted. Each paper is published as soon as the copyedited and typeset proofs are approved by the author. Submissions should follow the guidelines of Optical Engineering. Manuscripts should be submitted online at https://oe.msubmit.net.

The annual Laser Damage Symposium is the leading forum for the exchange of information on all aspects of laser-induced damage in materials for high-power/high-energy lasers. For over a half-century the symposium has grown to be a highly comprehensive source of information on optics, materials for high-power/high-energy lasers, and various aspects of intensive laser interaction with the optical materials. The materials of interest include but are not limited to optical thin films, bulk optical materials, glasses, nonlinear crystals, semiconductors, fibers, and metaoptics materials with nanostructured surfaces.

Over the past decade, participants of the Laser Damage Symposia expressed a strong demand to publish selected works in a peer-reviewed journal after presenting them at the conference. To meet that need, Special Sections on Laser Damage were published by Optical Engineering on six previous occasions dating back to 2012. These special sections have received remarkable attention from readers and experts from laser-damage and other related fields. The success of those special sections and the continuing demand from symposium participants have motivated a seventh Optical Engineering Special Section on Laser Damage.

As a compilation of the most current research in a refereed format, these special sections provide a unique and centralized resource for the community, co-locating some of the most recent results. This special section is open for submissions from the participants of the Laser Damage Symposium and Pacific Rim Laser Damage Symposium of any year. We also invite researchers worldwide who wish to publish original and novel results, especially if they were not presented at the symposia. The topics of interest for this special section are:

• Measurements of laser-damage threshold
• Laser-induced damage test protocols
• Laser-component fabrication
• Optical materials for high-power and high-energy lasers
• Characterization of properties of the optical materials
• Characterization of defects in optical materials
• Novel materials for high-power lasers, i.e. metasurfaces and metaoptics
• Mid-infrared optical materials and nonlinear crystals
• Materials for thin films and thin-film preparation
• Thin-film properties, design, and durability
• Aging issues for laser optics
• Contamination of optical components
• Influence of ambient conditions on aging and surface contamination
• Novel methods of surface polishing and finishing/re-finishing for optical components
• Methods of laser-damage mitigation
• Final optics of high-power lasers and laser facilities
• Novel lasers and regimes of laser operation
• High-intensity laser-surface interactions
• Generation of periodic surface structures
• Fundamental effects of high-power laser-material interactions
• Fundamental mechanisms of laser damage of optical materials
• Ultrafast laser-material interactions
• Laser-material interactions at mid-infrared wavelengths
• Thermal effects of laser-material interactions
• Laser-defect interactions in optical materials
• Nonlinear effects in laser-solid interactions
• High-power propagation effects in transparent materials
• Modeling of intensive laser-material interactions

The guest editors also seek comprehensive review papers in the areas listed above. Authors interested in submitting a review paper to this special section should contact the guest editors with a brief proposal of the paper.

All submissions will be peer-reviewed. Peer review will start immediately upon manuscript submission, with the goal of making a first decision within six weeks. Special sections are opened online once a minimum of four papers has been accepted. Each paper is published as soon as the copyedited and typeset proofs are approved by the author. Submissions should follow the guidelines of Optical Engineering. Manuscripts should be submitted online at https://oe.msubmit.net.