Last year, we celebrated the tenth anniversary of Advances in Optics and Photonics (AOP) [1]. In reviewing the Journal’s history, it is clear that it occupies a strong position, and, in just 10 years, AOP has become highly respected, with an impressive 5-year impact factor of 20.90 [2]. This success is in large part due to the vision of its founding Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Bahaa Saleh, and the sustained efforts by my predecessor, Editor-in-Chief Prof. Govind Agrawal. I am honored to have been selected as the next Editor-in-Chief of AOP and am ready to serve with the same enthusiasm and dedication as these two distinguished editors.

For the optics and photonics community, AOP occupies a unique color in the spectrum of OSA journals because it publishes exclusively peer-reviewed in-depth reviews and tutorials. The Journal scope covers both basic and applied topics in all aspects of optics and photonics, from materials, to devices, to systems, and the readership is broad in terms of both technical interests and career stages, encompassing students, researchers, scientists, engineers, and senior professionals. Innovation hubs—dating back to the birthplace of optical glasses on the island of Murano in the thirteenth century—derive creativity by “information spillover” as much as by competition. One main purpose of a society like OSA is to enable information spillover to spur fundamental breakthroughs and technical innovations in the optics and photonics community. As part of this, AOP can and should be both a leading platform to disseminate the necessary knowledge and technology and a reliable resource to access it. This can happen only if all of you, as authors, reviewers, and readers, pitch in.

In this vein, I welcome suggestions for potential review and tutorial topics and authors from the entire AOP readership. In addition, while AOP is an invitation-only journal, article proposals are more than welcome [3]. Likewise, recommendations for making the AOP content more accessible and its delivery more efficient will be greatly appreciated. I can be reached via email at li@ucf.edu, and the AOP editorial staff can be reached at aopmss@osa.org.

Speaking of the staff, I truly respect the OSA staff as they made my job easier when I previously served as an Associate Editor for other OSA journals. Each and every one of them is extremely responsive and hardworking. They have prepared me well to start my term at AOP. In return, with your help, let’s make their jobs as easy as possible through early planning, on-time submissions, and timely reviews.

AOP has a special place within OSA and the optics and photonics community in general. The best days of AOP are ahead of us, as we are fortunate to stand on the shoulders of giants in the form of the editors, authors, and reviewers that have made AOP such a success thus far. I look forward to working with all of you to take AOP to new heights.