Optica

• Name — Optica • Type — 501(c)(3) organization • Tax Id — 53-0259696 • Founder — Perley G. Nutting • Location — Washington, D.C., United States • Key People — James Kafka (2025 president) Gerd Leuchs (2024 president) Michal Lipson (2023 president) • Region Served — Worldwide • Focus — Optics and photonics • Method — Professional journals and conferences • Revenue — $49,549,907 • Endowment — $74,991,615 • Num Employees — 150 • Num Members — 22,000

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 group's Journal of the Optical Society of America was created in 1918. The first series of joint meetings with the American Physical Society took place in 1918. In 2008, it changed its name to the Optical Society. In September 2021, under the leadership of Elizabeth Rogan, the organization's name changed to Optica, in reference to the organization's journal by the same name and geographic neutrality to reflect the society's global membership. In 2024, following an employee whistleblower complaint, Bloomberg News reported that the Optica Foundation Challenge was funded entirely by Huawei. In response, the United States House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology launched a probe. Despite a statement from 2024 Optica President Gerd Leuchs stating an independent investigation into the whistleblower complaint revealed "no violation of law was identified" and no further Congressional action, Optica announced that it would no longer accept money from Huawei, removed the company's representation on a panel of judges, returned donations made by Huawei from 2022 onward, and removed Elizabeth A. Rogan as CEO.

Optica Publishing Group Optica Publishing Group is Optica's scientific publishing platform, which publishes peer-reviewed optics and photonics research. Optica Publishing Group's portfolio consists of 20 publications.

• 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. • Optica Quantum; 2023–present — An open access journal of high-impact results in quantum information science and technology enabled by optics. • 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. • Optics Continuum; 2022–present — An open access journal that publishes research articles meeting the standards for technical accuracy, scientific rigor, and presentation quality without judgment of impact or significance.

• 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 Optica and IEEE. Published from 2002 to 2009 as Journal of Optical Networking. • Journal of Lightwave Technology, 1998–present. Jointly published by Optica 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 Optica and Chinese Laser Press.

• Optics and Photonics News, ISSN 1047-6938; 1975–present. Publishes monthly news for recent developments in optics on topics related to science and society, education, technology, and business.

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 • James P. Gordon Memorial Speakership • John Tyndall Award • Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize • Kevin P. Thompson Optical Design Innovator Award • Leonard Mandel Quantum Optics Award • 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

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

• Hilda Conrady Kingslake, optics researcher, author of the "History of the Optical Society of America, 1916-1966" and "The First 50 Years — the Institute of Optics 1929-1979." • Delwin Lindsey, editor of the society journal