The Optical Society

Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conferences and exhibitions. It currently has about 488,000 customers in 183 countries, including nearly 300 companies.

History

Optica was founded in 1916 as the "Optical Society of America", under the leadership of Perley G. Nutting, with 30 optical scientists and instrument makers based in Rochester, New York. It soon published its first journal of research results and established an annual meeting. The first local section was established in Rochester, New York, in 1916 and the ''Journal of the Optical Society of America'' was created in 1918. The first series of joint meetings with the American Physical Society was in 1918. In 2008 it changed its name to The Optical Society (OSA). In September 2021, the organization's name changed to Optica, which references the organization's journal and is geographically neutral in order to reflect the global membership of the society.

Scientific publishing

The society publishes a number of journals and a magazine.

Primary journals

* '' Advances in Optics and Photonics'', ; 2009–present - Publishing long review articles and tutorials.
* ''Applied Optics'', (print); (online); 1962–present - Covering optical applications-centered research.
* '' Biomedical Optics Express'', ; 2010–present - An open access journal covering optics, photonics and imaging in the life sciences.
* ''Journal of the Optical Society of America'', 1917–1983, which was split into two journals in 1984:
** '' Journal of the Optical Society of America A'', (print); (online); 1984–present - Covering research on optics, image science, and vision.
** ''Journal of the Optical Society of America B'', (print); (online); 1984–present - Covering research on optical physics
* '' Optica'', ; 2014–present - Rapid dissemination of high-impact results in all areas of optics and photonics.
* ''Optical Materials Express'', ; 2011–present - An open access journal covering advances in novel optical materials, their properties, modeling, synthesis and fabrication techniques.
* ''Optics Express'', ; 1997–present - An open access journal covering all areas of optics.
* ''Optics Letters'', (print); (online); 1977–present - Providing rapid publication of short papers in all fields of optical science and technology.
* ''OSA Continuum'', ; 2018–present – An open access journal providing rapid publication of papers in optics and photonics

Partnered journals

* '' Applied Spectroscopy'', 1951–present. Published by the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.
* ''Chinese Optics Letters'', 2003–present. Published by Chinese Laser Press.
* ''Journal of Optical Communications and Networking'', 2009–present. Jointly published by OSA and IEEE. Published from 2002 to 2009 as ''Journal of Optical Networking''.
* ''Journal of Display Technology'', 2005–2016. Jointly published by OSA and IEEE.
* ''Journal of Lightwave Technology'', 1998–present. Jointly published by OSA and IEEE.
* '' Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy'', 1993–present. Published by SAGE Publishing.
* ''Journal of Optical Technology'', 1999–present. English translation of ''Opticheskii Zhurnal'' published by the S. I. Vavilov State Optical Institute.
* ''Journal of Optical Society of Korea'', 2007–present. Published by the Optical Society of Korea.
* ''Photonics Research'', 2013–present. Jointly published by OSA and Chinese Laser Press.

Magazine

*''Optics and Photonics News'', 1975–present. Distributed to all members.

Recognitions

Optica presents awards and honors, including Optica Fellow, Honorary Membership, and Awards/Medals. Optica's awards and medals program is endowed through the Optica Foundation, and includes more than 20 named awards; among them are the following:

* Adolph Lomb Medal
* C.E.K. Mees Medal
* Charles Hard Townes Award
* David Richardson Medal
* Edgar D. Tillyer Award
* Edwin H. Land Medal
* Ellis R. Lippincott Award
* Emmett N. Leith Medal
* Esther Hoffman Beller Medal
* Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize
* Herbert Walther Award
* John Tyndall Award
* Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize
* Max Born Award
* Michael Stephen Feld Biophotonics Award
* Nick Holonyak Jr. Award
* Paul F. Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award
* R. W. Wood Prize
* Robert E. Hopkins Leadership Award
* Sang Soo Lee Award
* Stephen D. Fantone Distinguished Service Award
* The Joseph W. Goodman Book Writing Award
* William F. Meggers Award in Spectroscopy

Presidents

The following persons are or have been presidents of the society:

See also

*American Institute of Physics
* American Physical Society
* European Optical Society
*European Photonics Industry Consortium
*International Commission for Optics
* Optical Society of London
* Optics Classification and Indexing Scheme
*Society for Imaging Science and Technology
*SPIE

References

External links

*
* Th
Inter-Society Color Council records
at Hagley Museum and Library (contain materials from the Optical Society of America including annual meeting programs, reports issued by the Committee on Colorimetry, and issues of the Society's official publication, the ''Journal of the Optical Society of America''.)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Optical Society, The

Physics societies
Scientific organizations established in 1916
Organizations based in Washington, D.C.
Optics institutions
1916 establishments in New York (state)