Editorial: Breakthroughs in photonics 2010

Breakthroughs in Photonics is an annual Special Issue of the IEEE PHOTONICS JOURNAL that showcases major accomplishments across the broad spectrum of Photonics Science and Technology within the last year. Breakthroughs in Photonics 2010 contains 19 invited comprehensive refereed reviews written by experts that cover progress in the areas of Coherent Photon Sources from Far Infrared to X-Rays, Fundamentals of Light Propagation and Interaction; Nonlinear Effects, Photonics Materials and Engineered Photonic Structures, Biophotonics, Nano-photonics, Silicon Photonics, Plasma Photonics, Terahertz Photonics, Microwave Photonics, and Integrated Photonic Systems. The topics of the invited reviews are a subset of a broader and intense activity in Photonics worldwide and reflect on the scope of the journal. The selection of the topics and invited contributions is carried out by the IEEE PHOTONICS JOURNAL Editorial Board.