50 Most Cited Articles (As of January 6, 2012)

Launched in 1962, Applied Optics (AO) has published some of the most important applied research in the field. As one of the oldest applied journals in the industry, AO has paved the way for both OSA journals and non-OSA journals alike.

Below are the 50 most cited Applied Optics articles of all time, according to Thomson Reuters. They will be free to access throughout 2012.

  1. Numerically stable algorithm for discrete-ordinate-method radiative transfer in multiple scattering and emitting layered media

    Knut Stamnes, S-Chee Tsay, Warren Wiscombe, and Kolf Jayaweera

    Applied Optics, Vol. 27, Issue 12, pp. 2502-2509 (1988)

    TOTAL CITES: 1444

  2. Laser Beams and Resonators

    H. Kogelnik and T. Li

    Applied Optics, Vol. 5, Issue 10, pp. 1550-1567 (1966)

    TOTAL CITES: 1408

  3. Optical Constants of Water in the 200-nm to 200-µm Wavelength Region

    George M. Hale and Marvin R. Querry

    Applied Optics, Vol. 12, Issue 3, pp. 555-563 (1973)

    TOTAL CITES: 1401

  4. Phase retrieval algorithms: a comparison

    J. R. Fienup

    Applied Optics, Vol. 21, Issue 15, pp. 2758-2769 (1982)

    TOTAL CITES: 1280

  5. Time resolved reflectance and transmittance for the non-invasive measurement of tissue optical properties

    Michael S. Patterson, B. Chance, and B. C. Wilson

    Applied Optics, Vol. 28, Issue 12, pp. 2331-2336 (1989)

    TOTAL CITES: 1126

  6. Photothermal deflection spectroscopy and detection

    W. B. Jackson, N. M. Amer, A. C. Boccara, and D. Fournier

    Applied Optics, Vol. 20, Issue 8, pp. 1333-1344 (1981)

    TOTAL CITES: 913

  7. Optical constants of ice from the ultraviolet to the microwave

    Stephen G. Warren

    Applied Optics, Vol. 23, Issue 8, pp. 1206-1225 (1984)

    TOTAL CITES: 901

  8. Weakly Guiding Fibers

    D. Gloge

    Applied Optics, Vol. 10, Issue 10, pp. 2252-2258 (1971)

    TOTAL CITES: 843

  9. The HITRAN database: 1986 edition

    L. S. Rothman, R. R. Gamache, A. Goldman, L. R. Brown, R. A. Toth, H. M. Pickett, R. L. Poynter, J.-M. Flaud, C. Camy-Peyret, A. Barbe, N. Husson, C. P. Rinsland, and M. A. H. Smith

    Applied Optics, Vol. 26, Issue 19, pp. 4058-4097 (1987)

    TOTAL CITES: 767

  10. Optical properties of the clearest natural waters (200-800 nm)

    Raymond C. Smith and Karen S. Baker

    Applied Optics, Vol. 20, Issue 2, pp. 177-184 (1981)

    TOTAL CITES: 766

  11. Light Waves in Thin Films and Integrated Optics

    P. K. Tien

    Applied Optics, Vol. 10, Issue 11, pp. 2395-2413 (1971)

    TOTAL CITES: 765

  12. ART 2: self-organization of stable category recognition codes for analog input patterns

    Gail A. Carpenter and Stephen Grossberg

    Applied Optics, Vol. 26, Issue 23, pp. 4919-4930 (1987)

    TOTAL CITES: 747

  13. Digital Wavefront Measuring Interferometer for Testing Optical Surfaces and Lenses

    J. H. Bruning, D. R. Herriott, J. E. Gallagher, D. P. Rosenfeld, A. D. White, and D. J. Brangaccio

    Applied Optics, Vol. 13, Issue 11, pp. 2693-2703 (1974)

    TOTAL CITES: 728

  14. Measurement of Thin Film Parameters with a Prism Coupler

    R. Ulrich and R. Torge

    Applied Optics, Vol. 12, Issue 12, pp. 2901-2908 (1973)

    TOTAL CITES: 727

  15. Optical properties of the metals Al, Co, Cu, Au, Fe, Pb, Ni, Pd, Pt, Ag, Ti, and W in the infrared and far infrared

    M. A. Ordal, L. L. Long, R. J. Bell, S. E. Bell, R. R. Bell, R. W. Alexander, Jr., and C. A. Ward

    Applied Optics, Vol. 22, Issue 7, pp. 1099-1119 (1983)

    TOTAL CITES: 718

  16. Fourier transform profilometry for the automatic measurement of 3-D object shape

    Mitsuo Takeda and Kazuhiro Mutoh

    Applied Optics, Vol. 22, Issue 24, pp. 3977-3982 (1983)

    TOTAL CITES: 672

  17. Theory of Transparency of the Eye

    G. B. Benedek

    Applied Optics, Vol. 10, Issue 3, pp. 459-473 (1971)

    TOTAL CITES: 665

  18. A Technique For Optically Convolving 2 Functions

    C. S. Weaver and J. W. Goodman

    Applied Optics, Vol. 5, Issue 7, pp. 1248-1249 (1966)

    TOTAL CITES: 647

  19. Absorption spectrum (380-700 nm) of pure water. II. Integrating cavity measurements

    Robin M. Pope and Edward S. Fry

    Applied Optics, Vol. 36, Issue 33, pp. 8710-8723 (1997)

    TOTAL CITES: 631

  20. Phase-only matched filtering

    Joseph L. Horner and Peter D. Gianino

    Applied Optics, Vol. 23, Issue 6, pp. 812-816 (1984)

    TOTAL CITES: 606

  21. Light propagation in graded-index optical fibers

    M. D. Feit and J. A. Fleck, Jr.

    Applied Optics, Vol. 17, Issue 24, pp. 3990-3998 (1978)

    TOTAL CITES: 599

  22. Polarization holography. 1: A new high-efficiency organic material with reversible photoinduced birefringence

    T. Todorov, L. Nikolova, and N. Tomova

    Applied Optics, Vol. 23, Issue 23, pp. 4309-4312 (1984)

    TOTAL CITES: 592

  23. Improved Mie scattering algorithms

    W. J. Wiscombe

    Applied Optics, Vol. 19, Issue 9, pp. 1505-1509 (1980)

    TOTAL CITES: 584

  24. Light scattering in Intralipid-10% in the wavelength range of 400-1100 nm

    Hugo J. van Staveren, Christian J. M. Moes, Jan van Marie, Scott A. Prahl, and Martin J. C. van Gemert

    Applied Optics, Vol. 30, Issue 31, pp. 4507-4514 (1991)

    TOTAL CITES: 573

  25. Spectral Properties of Plants

    David M. Gates, Harry J. Keegan, John C. Schleter, and Victor R. Weidner

    Applied Optics, Vol. 4, Issue 1, pp. 11-20 (1965)

    TOTAL CITES: 570

  26. Stable analytical inversion solution for processing lidar returns

    James D. Klett

    Applied Optics, Vol. 20, Issue 2, pp. 211-220 (1981)

    TOTAL CITES: 558

  27. High Precision Scanning Ellipsometer

    D. E. Aspnes and A. A. Studna

    Applied Optics, Vol. 14, Issue 1, pp. 220-228 (1975)

    TOTAL CITES: 551

  28. Model for laser Doppler measurements of blood flow in tissue

    R. Bonner and R. Nossal

    Applied Optics, Vol. 20, Issue 12, pp. 2097-2107 (1981)

    TOTAL CITES: 528

  29. Repetitively Pulsed Tunable Dye Laser for High Resolution Spectroscopy

    T. W. Hänsch

    Applied Optics, Vol. 11, Issue 4, pp. 895-898 (1972)

    TOTAL CITES: 526

  30. Optical waveguide refractive index profiles determined from measurement of mode indices: a simple analysis

    J. M. White and P. F. Heidrich

    Applied Optics, Vol. 15, Issue 1, pp. 151-155 (1976)

    TOTAL CITES: 512

  31. Retrieval of water-leaving radiance and aerosol optical thickness over the oceans with SeaWiFS: a preliminary algorithm

    Howard R. Gordon and Menghua Wang

    Applied Optics, Vol. 33, Issue 3, pp. 443-452 (1994)

    TOTAL CITES: 507

  32. Phytoplankton pigment concentrations in the Middle Atlantic Bight: comparison of ship determinations and CZCS estimates

    Howard R. Gordon, Dennis K. Clark, James W. Brown, Otis B. Brown, Robert H. Evans, and William W. Broenkow

    Applied Optics, Vol. 22, Issue 1, pp. 20-36 (1983)

    TOTAL CITES: 501

  33. A New Theory of Wood's Anomalies on Optical Gratings

    A. Hessel and A. A. Oliner

    Applied Optics, Vol. 4, Issue 10, pp. 1275-1297 (1965)

    TOTAL CITES: 498

  34. Optical Power Handling Capacity of Low Loss Optical Fibers as Determined by Stimulated Raman and Brillouin Scattering

    R. G. Smith

    Applied Optics, Vol. 11, Issue 11, pp. 2489-2494 (1972)

    TOTAL CITES: 496

  35. Analysis of atmospheric lidar observations: some comments

    Frederick G. Fernald

    Applied Optics, Vol. 23, Issue 5, pp. 652-653 (1984)

    TOTAL CITES: 485

  36. Direct recording of holograms by a CCD target and numerical reconstruction

    U. Schnars and W. Jüptner

    Applied Optics, Vol. 33, Issue 2, pp. 179-181 (1994)

    TOTAL CITES: 483

  37. The Spectra of the Doubly and Triply Ionized Rare Earths

    G. H. Dieke and H. M. Crosswhite

    Applied Optics, Vol. 2, Issue 7, pp. 675-686 (1963)

    TOTAL CITES: 476

  38. Binary Fraunhofer Holograms, Generated by Computer

    A. W. Lohmann and D. P. Paris

    Applied Optics, Vol. 6, Issue 10, pp. 1739-1748 (1967)

    TOTAL CITES: 467

  39. Digital phase-shifting interferometry: a simple error-compensating phase calculation algorithm

    P. Hariharan, B. F. Oreb, and T. Eiju

    Applied Optics, Vol. 26, Issue 13, pp. 2504-2506 (1987)

    TOTAL CITES: 448

  40. Spectrally narrow pulsed dye laser without beam expander

    Michael G. Littman and Harold J. Metcalf

    Applied Optics, Vol. 17, Issue 14, pp. 2224-2227 (1978)

    TOTAL CITES: 435

  41. Light Scattering by a Spheroidal Particle

    Shoji Asano and Giichi Yamamoto

    Applied Optics, Vol. 14, Issue 1, pp. 29-49 (1975)

    TOTAL CITES: 417

  42. Digital wave-front measuring interferometry: some systematic error sources

    J. Schwider, R. Burow, K.-E. Elssner, J. Grzanna, R. Spolaczyk, and K. Merkel

    Applied Optics, Vol. 22, Issue 21, pp. 3421-3432 (1983)

    TOTAL CITES: 407

  43. Off-Axis Paths in Spherical Mirror Interferometers

    D. Herriott, H. Kogelnik, and R. Kompfner

    Applied Optics, Vol. 3, Issue 4, pp. 523-526 (1964)

    TOTAL CITES: 399

  44. Computed Relationships Between the Inherent and Apparent Optical Properties of a Flat Homogeneous Ocean

    Howard R. Gordon, Otis B. Brown, and Michael M. Jacobs

    Applied Optics, Vol. 14, Issue 2, pp. 417-427 (1975)

    TOTAL CITES: 397

  45. Speckle masking in astronomy: triple correlation theory and applications

    Adolf W. Lohmann, Gerd Weigelt, and Bernhard Wirnitzer

    Applied Optics, Vol. 22, Issue 24, pp. 4028-4037 (1983)

    TOTAL CITES: 396

  46. On the Propagation of Gaussian Beams of Light Through Lenslike Media Including those with a Loss or Gain Variation

    Herwig Kogelnik

    Applied Optics, Vol. 4, Issue 12, pp. 1562-1569 (1965)

    TOTAL CITES: 392

  47. Polarization optics of twisted single-mode fibers

    R. Ulrich and A. Simon

    Applied Optics, Vol. 18, Issue 13, pp. 2241-2251 (1979)

    TOTAL CITES: 385

  48. Adaptive bidirectional associative memories

    Bart Kosko

    Applied Optics, Vol. 26, Issue 23, pp. 4947-4960 (1987)

    TOTAL CITES: 373

  49. Phase-shifting speckle interferometry

    Katherine Creath

    Applied Optics, Vol. 24, Issue 18, pp. 3053-3058 (1985)

    TOTAL CITES: 370

  50. Avalanche photodiodes and quenching circuits for single-photon detection

    S. Cova, M. Ghioni, A. Lacaita, C. Samori, and F. Zappa

    Applied Optics, Vol. 35, Issue 12, pp. 1956-1976 (1996)

    TOTAL CITES: 365