Guest Editorial on Special Issue on Microwave Photonics

The papers in this special section focus on the topic of microwave photonics. Microwave photonics is a multidisciplinary field that merges and manipulates signals in the optical and microwave domains, exploiting the best of both the microwave and optical worlds while achieving key functionalities that may not be achievable otherwise.While pioneering research activities in the microwave photonics field were initially more defense focused, this specialized area has evolved and expanded significantly over the last three decades to encompass a diversity of applications in telecommunications, defense, sensing, and medicine. Early investigations were sparked by the keen interest in exploiting the inherent benefits of optical fiber as a transmission medium for the distribution of analog RF signals. Since then, microwave photonics has technically matured with research activities extending into the areas of signal processing, antenna remoting, beamforming, and more recently in the area of integrated microwave photonics systems on a chip. Furthermore, with the proliferation of handheld portable devices coupled with the race to meet the future 5Gwireless specifications, microwave photonics technology has created great opportunities to potentially meet the emerging wireless requirements.