Coronavirus and Photonics

The 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic is an ongoing global pandemic of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) caused by a newly discovered virus known as SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). The outbreak was originally identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and rapidly spread out to more than 200 countries and territories, for which WHO declared it a pandemic on March 11, 2020. To date (April 10, 2020), more than 1.6 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported, resulting in more than 100,000 deaths worldwide. While people are making efforts in various sectors to “flatten the curve” at present, photonics plays an important role in coronavirus detection as well as clinical diagnosis and therapy of COVID-19 and its complications via optical sensing, spectroscopy, and imaging. For example, infrared thermography can produce a thermal map of the human skin in real time and find potentially infected persons at airports and on the street, while nanophotonic biosensors based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering can sensitively identify viruses in airborne aerosols. Moreover, photonics is an essential part of PCR testing (for diagnosis of the coronavirus) and flow cytometry (for evaluating treatment effectiveness) via fluorescence detection. This Special Topic provides a valuable forum where researchers will be able to share their novel findings, techniques, and applications regarding SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, and other coronaviruses (MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, OC43, 229E, etc.) in the hope of beating the coronavirus pandemic soon.

Topics covered include, but are not limited to:

Guest Editors

Andrea Armani, Professor at University of Southern California, USA

Stephen Evans, Professor at University of Leeds, UK

Hao He, Professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University, China

Chulhong Kim, Professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea

Wei Min, Professor at Columbia University, USA

Roberto Osellame, Research Director at National Research Council, Italy

APL Photonics Editors

Editor-in-Chief: Benjamin Eggleton, Professor, University of Sydney

Deputy Editor: Keisuke Goda, Professor, University of Tokyo, UCLA, Wuhan University

Please note that papers will be published as normal when they are ready in a regular issue of the journal and will populate on a virtual collection page within a few days of publication. Inclusion in the collection will not cause delay in publication.

How to Submit:

1. Please submit through the online submission system.
2. Under manuscript type → select Article or Letter, as appropriate
3. Under manuscript information → Title/Abstract → select “Invited Submission: No”.
4. Under manuscript information → Manuscript classification → select “Special Topic: Coronavirus and Photonics”