Optica (society)

Optica (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.
Partnered journals
Applied Spectroscopy, 1951–present. Published by the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.
Chinese Optics Letters, 2003–present. Published by Chinese Laser Press.
Current Optics and Photonics, 2017–present. Published by Optical Society of Korea.
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 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.
Photonics Research, 2013–present. Jointly published by OSA and Chinese Laser Press.
Magazine
Optics and Photonics News, 1975–present. Distributed to all members.
Legacy journals
Journal of Display Technology, 2005–2016. Jointly published by OSA and IEEE. Available online.
Journal of Optical Networking, 2002–2009. Published by OSA. Available online.
Journal of Optical Society of Korea, 2007–2016. Published by the Optical Society of Korea. Available online.
OSA Continuum, 2018–2021. Published by Optica. Available online.
Optics News, 1975–1989. Published by Optica. Available online.
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:
Notable people
Delwin Lindsey, Editor of the society journal
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
Archival collections
The 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.)
Optical Society of America miscellaneous publications, 1919-2000, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
Optical Society of America records, 1940-1959, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
Physics societies
Scientific organizations established in 1916
Organizations based in Washington, D.C.
Optics institutions
1916 establishments in New York (state)