Cost-Effective Optical Approaches for Life and Materials Sciences

Recent advances in optical imaging and sensing have significantly improved our ability to investigate biological and material systems. However, many state-of-the-art optical modalities rely on complex, costly, and bulky instrumentation, which limits their accessibility and widespread adoption. In response, there has been growing interest in developing simple, cost-effective, yet powerful optical approaches capable of delivering quantitative, high-resolution, and label-free measurements using compact and accessible setups. Techniques such as digital holography, laser speckle analysis, interferometric methods, and polarimetric imaging have demonstrated strong potential for applications in life and materials sciences. At the same time, increasing attention is being paid to reproducibility, benchmarking, and standardization of low-cost optical systems to ensure reliable quantitative performance and facilitate broader adoption across research communities.This Research Topic aims to bring together innovative optical imaging and sensing approaches that emphasize cost-effectiveness, simplicity, and robustness without compromising measurement performance. Many emerging applications in life and materials sciences require quantitative optical techniques that are not only accurate but also accessible and scalable. The goal of this collection is to highlight optical methods that enable non-invasive, non-destructive, and quantitative measurements using compact setups, affordable components, and streamlined instrumentation. We encourage contributions that demonstrate advances in optical instrumentation, data processing, and resolution enhancement, as well as applications in biophotonics, materials characterization, and optical metrology. Particular attention will be given to approaches that improve accessibility and reproducibility, including open and modular system designs, simplified experimental implementations, and benchmarking strategies for validating the performance of low-cost optical platforms. By bridging the gap between laboratory prototypes and practical deployment, this Research Topic seeks to promote optical tools that are both scientifically rigorous and broadly accessible.We invite submissions addressing a broad range of cost-effective optical methods and applications in life and materials sciences, including but not limited to:• Digital holography and interferometric approaches for quantitative and label-free imaging• Laser speckle analysis for flow measurement and dynamic scattering characterization• Polarimetric imaging and its applications in biomedical and materials sciences• Microsphere-assisted and other resolution-enhancement techniques• Optical tweezers and trapping approaches for micro- and nanoscale manipulation• Optical profilometry, coherence tomography, and compact interferometric systems• Simplified and low-cost optical instrumentation for scalable and field-deployable measurements• Open, modular, and reproducible optical system designs, as well as benchmarking approaches for validating low-cost optical platformsWe welcome Original Research, Review, Mini Review, and Methods articles that advance accessible, cost-effective optical techniques and their applications across the life and materials sciences. Topic editors: Vahid Abbasian, Manoj Kumar, Vipin Tiwari, Igor Minin, Hongqiang Ma Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78291/cost-effective-optical-approaches-for-life-and-materials-sciences