Outgoing Editor-in-Chief, Alexandra Boltasseva, looks back over her term and forward to the Journal’s next phase.

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I cannot believe that it has already been six years since I joined Optical Materials Express, humbled and full of excitement. I took over a relatively new but already successful journal led by David Hagan, and am tremendously honored to have had the opportunity to lead the Journal over the past six years.

“Materials is Life.” That’s how I started my Editorial back in 2015 when I became the OMEx Editor-in-Chief [1]. These words are still on my office wall, written in big cutout letters on a piece of artwork given to me by my then 13-year old daughter. Now, my two younger daughters are learning about atoms, crystals, optical illusions, and how eyeglasses work. Last month, when my 10-year old got her first pair of glasses, she could not believe her eyes stepping out of the optometrist’s office. “Mom, how come I can now see every leaf on that tree?” Her excitement is just the first step on a life-long road of discovering how things work and what enables them. The road of discovering materials.

“...technology owes its existence to a quiet revolution in materials...” [2]. The transdisciplinary field of optical materials research has had a huge impact on science and society, without people even realizing that materials are the quintessence of progress. Leading the Journal gave me a truly unique opportunity to promote optical materials science and engineering, which continue to shape both the fundamental science of light and the next-generation of photonic technologies. As I watch the dynamics of the vibrant, ever changing, and growing field of optical materials, I am continuously reminded how materials can indeed change the world – both evolutionarily and revolutionarily – in the areas of thin optics, energy, lighting and many more.

I am extremely proud of all of the exciting initiatives we have developed over the past six years – from introducing the Emerging Researcher Best Paper Prize [3] and implementing new ways to highlight and promote optical materials research to a wider audience (#OPG_OMEx), to presenting the interesting opinions of leading researchers on the prospect – or doom – of various material approaches [4]. I am forever grateful to everyone who helped OMEx to grow and I hope that over the past six years we have helped to bridge the optics and materials science communities, and created a platform for captivating interdisciplinary dialogue and the exchange of expertise.

I would like to thank the Optica Publishing Group staff, who have provided outstanding support to the Journal. I would especially like to acknowledge the wonderful group of associate editors. It was one of the most rewarding and inspirational experiences to work with them to publish and promote research and to engage in scientific dialogue both in well-established, conventional areas such as nonlinear, luminescent, laser, and fiber materials, as well as novel, emerging material platforms including metamaterials, two-dimensional, and near-zero-index materials, to name a few.

The Journal and the whole community are very fortunate that Prof. Andrea Alù has agreed to serve as the next Editor-in-Chief for OMEx. Prof. Alù is a bright star and world leader in photonics with an exceptional track record both in research and in service to the scientific community. Under his leadership, OMEx will continue to serve the community by bringing together scientists from different backgrounds and disciplines to push the frontiers of a plethora of optical materials, approaches, and technologies.

Dear OMEx, wishing you growth to new heights and new dimensions as you silently enable the next revolutions in science and technology.

1. A. Boltasseva, “Quiet revolutions in optical materials enable breakthrough technologies: editorial,” Opt. Mater. Express 6(1), 288–289 (2016). [CrossRef]  

2. J. Gertner, The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation (Penguin Press, 2012).

3. A. Boltasseva and J. Hu, “New Journal prize to recognize the best paper from an emerging researcher: editorial,” Opt. Mater. Express 8(6), 1695 (2018). [CrossRef]  

4. A. Boltasseva, “We value your Opinion: editorial,” Opt. Mater. Express 11, 3779 (2021). [CrossRef]  

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