Photonics is a key technology of this century. The combination of photonics with silicon technology is a great challenge because of the potentiality of coupling electronics and optical functions (light emission, amplification, modulation, wave guiding, optical memory, etc.) on a single chip. Silicon nanostructures are promising in various areas of photonics especially for light-emitting functionality, and, more recently, for applications in advanced photovoltaic cells.

We invite investigators to contribute original research articles as well as review articles that will stimulate the continuing efforts to understand and develop the photonic properties of silicon-based materials. We would like to receive papers describing fundamental results and applications of various silicon-based photonic materials (including SiC and SiGe composites). Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Fabrication and characterization of silicon-based photonic materials
• Optical, structural, and optoelectronic properties of silicon-based materials
• Theoretical modelling of photonic properties of silicon-based materials
• Light emitting devices based on silicon nanostructures
• Doping of silicon nanostructures for photonic applications
• Silicon-based plasmonics
• Silicon-based waveguides, modulators, and amplifiers
• Energy transfer and energy efficiency in silicon-based photonics
• Solar cells based on silicon nanostructures

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijp/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: