Giancarlo C. Righini is former director of the Enrico Fermi Center and of the National Department on Materials and Devices, National Research Council of Italy (CNR). He was also research director at the Nello Carrara Institute of Applied Physics, CNR, and vice-president of the International Commission for Optics. His research interests concern fiber and integrated optics, glass materials, and microresonators. He has published over 500 research papers. He is fellow of OSA, SPIE and Italian Physical Society (SIF), and also founding member and fellow of European Optical Society (EOS) and Italian Society of Optics and Photonics (SIOF).Maurizio Ferrari is the director of research with the Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies, CNR, Italy, where he is also head of the CSMFO - Caratterizzazione e Sviluppo di Materiali per la Fotonica e Optoelettronica Lab and the Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies (IFN-CNR) Trento unit. He is co-author of more than 400 publications in international journals, of several book chapters, and he is involved in numerous national and international projects concerning glass photonics. He is a OSA and SPIE fellow.

• Part I: Characterization techniquesChapter 1: Optical characterization techniquesChapter 2: Structural and surface-characterization techniquesChapter 3: Integrated spectroscopy using THz time-domain spectroscopy and low-frequency Raman scattering Part II: Integrated optical waveguides, devices, and applicationsChapter 4: Plasmonic nanostructures and waveguidesChapter 5: Crystalline thin films for integrated laser applicationsChapter 6: Integration of optical microcavitiesChapter 7: Electric and magnetic sensors based on whispering gallery mode spherical resonatorsChapter 8: Nonlinear integrated optics in proton-exchanged lithium niobate waveguides and applications to classical and quantum opticsChapter 9: Next-generation long-wavelength infrared detector arrays: competing technologies and modeling challengesChapter 10: Arrayed waveguide gratings for telecom and spectroscopic applicationsChapter 11: Integrated quantum photonicsChapter 12: The optical reservoir computer: a new approach to a programmable integrated optics system based on an artificial neural network