Should you be interested in organizing a Special Session at AES 2024, please contact us at contact@aesconference.org. Sessions of similar topics may be proposed, if needed we will schedule them at different slots over the conference period.

See example of sessions proposed at AES 2023 here: AES 2023 special sessions.

SP1. "Smart Electromagnetic Skins for the Next Generation of Wireless Network"

Organizers: Paola Pirinoli (Politecnico di Torino, Italy) & Angelo Freni (University of Florence, Italy)

Smart Electromagnetic Skins (SESs) are low-cost planar or conformal surfaces, with a texture comprising many elements, in case sub-wavelength, arranged in such a way that they provide an anomalous reflection (or transmission), according to which the incident field is re-directed in a pre-defined direction, covers the desired area, or has a specified spatial distribution (e.g. with nulls in some directions).
 The aim of the Special Issue is to draw attention to the design and realization of smart electromagnetic surfaces and to their potential applications.

1. Andrea Alù, CUNY Advanced Science Research Center, USA
2. Manuel Arrebola, University of Oviedo, Spain
3. Eduardo Carrasco, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
4. Marco Donald Migliore, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy
5. Andrea Morabito, Università degli Studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Italy
6. Pasquale Giuseppe Nicolaci, TICRA, Denmark
7. Paola Pirinoli, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
8. Oscar Quevedo-Teruel, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
9. Giuseppe Vecchi, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
10. Marcello Zucchi, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

SP2. "Advanced antenna systems: modelling and experiments"

Organizers: Edik U. Rafailov (Aston University, UK) & Tatjana Gric (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania)

This Session discusses the principles of forming and analysis of mathematical models and experimental results of a wide class of antenna and systems. The Session aims to discuss the roles of antennas and their construction ranging from theoretical modelling to experimental setups. New scientific directions in the development of antenna for different applications from THz radiation to radio navigating systems will be discussed.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Juan R. Deop-Ruano, Instituto de Óptica, Spain
2. Sotiris Droulias, University of Piraeus, Greece
3. Yulong Duan, Linköping University, Sweden
4. Maria Kafesaki, FORTH, Greece
5. Ali Khenchaf, Lab-STICC, France
6. Teun-Teun Kim, University of Ulsan, Korea
7. Sota Mine, Nagoya University, Japan
8. Mika Prunnila, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Finland
9. Shahin Salarian, University of Essex, UK
10. Hari Shankar Singh, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Punjab

SP3. "Frontiers in Nonlinear Photonics: Optical Thermodynamics of Complex Systems"

Organizers: Konstantinos Makris (University of Crete & IESL-FORTH, Greece), Ziad Musslimani (Florida State University, Tallahassee, USA) & Mercedeh Khajavikhan (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA)

This special session will focus on recent developments in the emerging area of statistical thermodynamics of complex nonlinear multimode optical systems, namely “Optical Thermodynamics”. The session will feature talks that span a host of topics, ranging from mathematical methodologies describing thermalization processes and phase transition phenomena to computational aspects of generic nonlinear waves dynamics. Recent theoretical and experimental results demonstrating thermodynamic behaviors in multimode nonlinear photonic systems will be also presented.

Topics:

1. Thermalization of nonlinear optical multimode systems;
2. Applications to high power multimode optical fibers;
3. Novel experimental advances;
4. Thermalizaton of topological and disordered lattices;
5. Fluctuation Theory and out of equilibrium dynamics.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Nikolaos Efremidis, University of Crete, Greece
2. Tsampikos Kottos, Wesleyan University, USA
3. Stefano Lubini, Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, CNR, Italy
4. Antonio Picozzi, CNRS - Université de Bourgogne, France
5. Giorgos Tsironis, University of Crete and Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, Greece
6. Stefan Wabnitz, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
7. Frank Wise, Cornell University, USA

SP4. "Nonlinear Fiber Optics Towards Applications"

Organizers: Mario Ferraro (University of Calabria, Italy), Fabio Mangini (University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy)

Nonlinear optical fibers have found a wide range of applications across various fields due to their unique properties and the rich variety of nonlinear phenomena they exhibit, like optical solitons. Besides telecommunications based on wavelength conversion and signal processing, notable applications of nonlinear optical fibers are medical imaging and endoscopy, e.g., via multiphoton microscopy and endoscopy, sensing of physical parameters such as temperature, pressure, and strain, and light sources, like those based on supercontinuum generation and mode-locked lasers. This Special Session is open to both theoretical-numerical and experimental contributions that involve application-oriented studies on nonlinear fiber optics.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Sonia Boscolo, Aston University, United Kingdom
2. Ryszard Buczynski, University of Warsaw, Poland
3. José Alvarez Chavez, University of Twente, Netherlands
4. Pierre Colman, Université de Bourgogne, France
5. Vincent Couderc, XLIM-CNRS, France
6. Goery Genty, Tampere University of Technology, Finland
7. Claire Lefort, XLIM-CNRS, France
8. Arnaud Mussot, University of Lille, France
9. Lars Rishoj, DTU, Denmark

SP5. "Electromagnetic Metasurfaces for Microwave, Terahertz, and Optical Applications"

Organizers: Mario Ferraro (University of Calabria, Italy), Walter Fuscaldo (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto per la Microelettronica e Microsistemi, Italy) & Fabio Mangini (University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy)

Engineering the properties of materials in electromagnetics represents one of the most valuable methods for developing state-of-the-art technologies. Metasurfaces represent a versatile and ideal platform for realizing cutting-edge planar technology at any frequency range: from microwaves to optics, passing through the more recent terahertz domain. For instance, metasurfaces are extensively used to realize planar devices, such as antennas, filters, absorbers, reflectarrays and so on. An exceptional progress has been made in the recent decades, and nowadays metasurfaces can even exhibit tunable properties thanks to the inclusion of active elements. Moreover, nanoobjects also scatter electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength is well above their size, e.g., X-rays; the scattering pattern can be analyzed to obtain information on the material's structure at the nanoscale. This Special Session is open to contributions that involve both theoretical, numerical, and experimental results on electromagnetic applications of metasurfaces at any wavelength.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Davide Comite, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Italy
2. Alessandro Galli, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Italy
3. David González-Ovejero, IETR - CNRS, France
4. Santi Concetto Pavone, Università di Catania, Italy
5. Odysseas Tsilipakos, NHRF National Hellenic Research Foundation, Greece
6. Dimitrios Zografopoulos, CNR, Italy

SP6. "Applications of Microwaves in Medicine and Biology"

Organizers: Simona D’Agostino & Sara Fontana (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy)

A comprehensive overview of cutting-edge technologies, innovative device designs, new methods of transmitting and receiving data, and all the most important discoveries in this dynamic field will be covered in the session.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Marta Cavagnaro, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

SP7. "Specialty Optical Fibers"

Organizers: Ryszard Buczynski (University of Warsaw, Poland) & Mario Ferraro (University of Calabria, Italy)

Specialty optical fibers represent a diverse class of optical waveguides that deviate from conventional silica-based fibers, offering unique properties and applications. Generally speaking, specialty optical fibers can be divided into two categories, depending on whether they are made of silica or not. To the first class belong photonic crystal fibers, which are characterized by a periodic microstructured cladding that enables control over light propagation. These fibers find application in telecommunications, sensing, and nonlinear optics due to their ability to tailor dispersion, polarization properties, and nonlinear coefficient. In addition, photonic crystal fibers can be fusion-spliced with standard silica fibers. Whereas non-silica fibers can be made, for instance, of polymer materials or soft glass. The former leverages the features of organic materials to form flexible and lightweight optical waveguides, offering advantages such as low cost, easy fabrication, and enhanced mechanical flexibility; polymer optical fibers are utilized in various fields, including medical imaging, wearable devices, and short-distance data communication. Soft glass fibers are composed of glasses with tailored compositions, enabling a wide range of optical properties such as excellent transparency at the mid-infrared frequencies and extremely high nonlinear refractive index. Soft glass fibers find applications in several fields ranging from laser delivery in medical procedures to sensing in harsh environments.

This Special Session is open to contributions concerning the design and characterization of novel types of specialty optical fibers as well as experiments oriented to both fundamental research and applications.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Vincenzo Formoso, University of Calabria, Italy
2. Tadeusz Martynkien, Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland
3. Michal Nikodem, Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland
4. Pavel Peterka, Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
5. Clément Strutynski, University of Burgundy, France
6. Francesco Tani, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Germany

SP8. "Superconducting and high-frequency neuromorphic devices"

Organizers: Kaveh Delfanazari (University of Glasgow, UK) & Sergey Saveliev (Loughborough University, UK)

High-temperature superconducting devices excited by electromagnetic waves show complex dynamics, including the generation of THz volume and surface Josephson plasma waves and vortices. These systems look like perfect candidates to realise classical reservoir and wave-based computing. Other systems for wave-based neuromorphic computing include plasmonic and nanophotonic structures. In this session, we will discuss how all these systems can be used for new AI hardware offering novel computational capabilities.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

1. Alexander Balanov, Loughborough University, UK
2. Takanari Kashiwagi, University of Tsukuba, Japan
3. Sergey Saveliev, Loughborough University, UK
4. Alexey Ustinov, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
5. Alexandre Zagoskin, Loughborough University, UK