Advanced Optical Materials saw the light of day 5 years ago! The journal has in the meantime established itself as an international, interdisciplinary forum for the very best materials science focusing on all aspects of light–matter interactions. Read more about our shiny past, present, and future in our celebratory editorial.

Further, the Advanced Optical Materials Hall of Fame with top-level review articles by outstanding researchers leading the global field of optical materials science is live now! This article series will run in the regular issues, and the virtual issue will be updated regularly.

In this monthly Optimal in Optical feature, we highlight some of the breakthrough discoveries reported on in the journal in photonics, plasmonics, metamaterials, and much more.

Below are the top 5 most downloaded Advanced Optical Materials papers of the month. These are therefore all freely accessible at the moment. Enjoy reading!

1. Optical Properties of 2D Semiconductor WS₂ by Ting Yu et al.
2. Highly Efficient Red–Orange Delayed Fluorescence Emitters Based on Strong π-Accepting Dibenzophenazine and Dibenzoquinoxaline Cores: toward a Rational Pure-Red OLED Design by Takuma Yasuda et al.
3. Amplitude Modulation of Anomalously Refracted Terahertz Waves with Gated-Graphene Metasurfaces by Shuang Zhang et al.
4. Enhanced Light Extraction from OLEDs Fabricated on Patterned Plastic Substrates by Ruth Shinar et al.
5. Room-Temperature Red–Green–Blue Whispering-Gallery Mode Lasing and White-Light Emission from Cesium Lead Halide Perovskite (CsPbX₃, X = Cl, Br, I) Microstructures by Kin Man Yu et al.

This month’s Advanced Optical Materials issues 6.1 and 6.2 showcase 6 important contributions on the journal covers. Click below to discover the excellent science behind these optically pleasing images.

Light-Emitting Coatings – Cholesteric Liquid Crystals – Resonance Energy Transfer

by Hernán Míguez et al. – by Soo-Young Park et al. – by Igor L. Medintz et al.

Design of Organic Crystals – Alloys for Superabsorption – Electroluminescent Quantum Dots

by O-Pil Kwon et al. – by Marina S. Leite et al. – by Aloyse Degiron et al.