1. Title
The title should be concise but informative. Avoid beginning with an article or a preposition. The words "new" or "novel" should be avoided in the title and the text for legal reasons. Titles may be edited by the publisher to facilitate computer search.
2. Author names and Affiliations
Author names should be given in full and consistent form to facilitate indexing. Affiliations and postal addresses for all authors should appear on the title page.
3. Abstract
The abstract should be no longer than 100 words. It should be informative, without descriptive words or citations, and contain the major conclusions and quantitative results or other significant items in the paper. Together with the title, the abstract must be adequate as an index to all the subjects treated in the paper, and will be used as a base for indexing.
4. OCIS Codes
OCIS codes should be provided to help with indexing. This set of codes was formulated by the Optical Society of America and well-known in the optical research world. OCIS codes are available on Chinese Optics Letters’ web page and the OSA publication web pages. Each manuscript must be given 2-4 OCIS codes below the abstract, and the principal index code should be placed first.
5. Equations
Equations should be punctuated and aligned to bring out their structure, and numbered consecutively in round brackets on the right-hand side of the page.
Notation. Notation must be legible, clear, compact, and consistent with standard usage. In general, acronyms should be defined at first use.
Variables and Vectors. Set single-letter variables in italics (Eg. M). Set vectors in boldface (Eg. m). Functions, derivative "d," abbreviations, and multi-letter identifiers should be set in roman (plain) type (Eg. α, cos, ∫...dx).
Fences. For simple bracketing the usual order of parentheses and brackets is { [ ( { [ ( ) ] } ) ] }.
Bit and Byte. The standard abbreviations for bit and byte are b and B, respectively. To avoid confusion, these units should be spelled out in most cases (1 bit, 20 GB). Display equations should be broken and aligned for two-column display unless spanning across two columns is essential. Equations should be centered with equation numbers set flush right. For Math Type math, use the Format Equations feature to format all equations as Times + Symbol 10. Note: There must be a blank line space above and below each displayed equation.
6. References
References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first referenced in the body of the manuscript. Two references [2,3] should be included together, separated by a comma, and three or more consecutive references should be indicated by the bounding numbers and an en dash [1-4]. When compiling your references, be sure to include the titles of articles. COL requires this information before a paper can be sent to peer review. The reference titles will subsequently be removed by copy editors before they are published, so this information is not included in the length estimate sent to authors when a positive decision is made by the editor. All reference authors should be included in the reference list but when reference authors are mentioned in the text, use surnames only (unless further clarity is needed), and use "et al." and first author name when three or more authors are given. The format of references is as follows:
