Scope

The scope of the Journal includes advances in the state-of-the-art of optical networking science, technology, and engineering. Both theoretical contributions (including new techniques, concepts, analyses, and economic studies) and practical contributions (including optical networking experiments, prototypes, and new applications) are encouraged. Subareas of interest include the architecture and design of optical networks, optical network survivability and security, software-defined optical networking, elastic optical networks, data and control plane advances, network management related innovation, and optical access networks. Enabling technologies and their applications are suitable topics only if the results are shown to directly impact optical networking beyond simple point-to-point networks.

Specific topics of interest include the following:

Architecture and design of optical networks
Flexgrid, elastic networks, multi-band and multi-fiber networks
Multi-layer or multi-domain networks including higher layers such as IP and transport protocols, or including applications such as 5G/6G
Network control & management related innovation including software-defined optical networking (SDN), network function virtualization (NFV), monitoring and analytics, intent-based networks.
Network sensing technology and architectures
Optical access networks including passive optical networks (PON), free-space, optical wireless communication
Short-range optical networks within buildings, including offices, factories and homes
Short-reach optical networks on and between servers, boards or chips.
Space optical networks including inter-satellite and satellite-ground
Quantum optical networks and associated technology
Optical network survivability and security
Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) in optical networks
Data center networks for Cloud and Edge Computing
Network convergence, including access, metro, 5G/6G mobile and distributed edge computing
Optical networks applied to distributed computing architectures, including for high-performance computing (HPC) and AI clusters
Disaggregated networks including optical technologies
Neuromorphic and photonic reservoir computing using optical networks