Advances and developments in optics and photonics technologies have created many opportunities for significant improvements in the quality of healthcare, as well as accident prevention.

Optics and imaging have played a critical role in improving healthcare, as continuing advances in several critical areas of technology have dramatically increased the capabilities of biomedical optical instrumentation. New optical sources and materials, imaging devices, microfluidic technologies, and detection methods will provide remarkable increases in speed, sensitivity, and precision for optical devices in biomedicine and human safety.

This special issue welcomes original research and review articles with a focus on emerging research on novel photonic technologies aimed at meeting safety and healthcare requirements for humans. This will address global challenges in human health as well as human safety.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Photonic, optical, and lighting components for human health and safety
• Laser surgical devices, including beam-shaping, adaptive optical systems, tissue penetration, and ways to mitigate scatter, etc.
• Detection of toxins in the environment
• Special eyeglass coatings and sunscreens
• Light curtains and hazard avoidance beams/sensors/systems
• Biomedical imaging and microscopy
• Algorithms and software for processing data in biophotonics
• Smartphone-based imaging and sensing
• Wearable optoelectronics for disease diagnosis and treatment
• Analytical tests through photonic methods (blood, urine, body fluids, and molecular diagnostics)