Papers will be considered in the following topic categories:

Fundamentals of Photosensitivity and Poling
Improvements in the understanding of photosensitivity in fibers, waveguides, and bulk materials
Femtosecond laser induced photosensitivity in dielectrics
Fundamental understanding of femtosecond laser-matter interaction
Photosensitivity of nano-materials and precipitates
New glass compositions and processing methods for enhanced photosensitivity
Gratings in new materials systems (polymers, crystals, chalcogenide glasses, etc)
Modeling of the kinetics of UV and femtosecond IR-induced index changes occurring during grating writing
Basic studies of point defects responsible for photosensitivity
Role of Hydrogen in UV and femtosecond IR -induced index change mechanism
Role of stress and structural change in UV and femtosecond IR -induced index change mechanisms
Thermal stability of UV and femtosecond IR -induced index changes in glasses
Effects of high optical power levels on grating properties
Ultra high temperature and chemical composition gratings
Gratings in fibers without UV photosensitivity
Physics and chemistry of poling
Advances in thermal and UV-assisted poling of fibers and waveguides

Grating Properties and Fabrication Techniques
Advances in grating fabrication techniques, including direct write, holographic lithography and phase mask methods
Advances in femtosecond laser grating fabrication
Reel to reel grating fabrication and other mass production techniques
Properties of gratings in non-telecom and non-silica fibers
Grating measurement, characterization, and profile reconstruction techniques
Grating synthesis and design (inverse scattering)
Modeling of optical properties of new gratings and devices
Wavelength and phase tuning of Bragg gratings
Radiation-mode and cladding mode coupling of fiber gratings
Gratings in new geometries
Grating defects and noise (PMD, PDL, phase ripple, out of band reflections, MPI, etc)
UV and IR laser induced birefringence
Post processing techniques for grating performance correction
Direct writing, patterning or phase trimming of integrated optical devices with UV or femtosecond lasers
Volume Bragg gratings

Applications of Gratings and Poled Glass
Applications of arbitrary complex grating filters
Optical signal processing using fiber gratings
Multichannel tunable dispersion compensators and other telecom related grating filters
Devices based on femtosecond laser-grating fabrication
Devices based on poled glass
Nonlinear fiber grating applications, including enhanced continuum generation and Bragg solitons
Fiber grating sensors and sensor systems
Gratings for ultra high temperature, pressure and radioactive environments
Mode conversion gratings and devices based on higher order mode propagation
Applications of gratings in photonic crystal fibers
Grating devices for OCDMA
Fiber lasers incorporating gratings, including DFB, DBR, high power and multiwavelength lasers.
Comparison of fiber gratings with other optical filter technologies
Grating based spectrum and polarization measurement
Applications of long period gratings in systems, including gain flattening, mode conversion, and sensing
Medical and bio-photonic applications
Gratings in microwave photonics
Complex filters in astrophotonics
Slow light in fiber gratings