Optical networks underpin modern digital infrastructures, supporting high-capacity transmission for cloud computing, data center interconnection and user access. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers new opportunities to improve network planning, control, monitoring, and optimization, while complementing traditional physics-based and model-driven approaches. This Special Issue aims to bring together recent advances, methodologies, and practical experiences in AI for Optical Networks. The scope of this special issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

• AI-enabled optical network planning, control, and optimization
• Agent-based and multi-agent optical networking
• AI for self-driving optical networks
• AI for optical communications and signal processing
• AI for energy-efficient and sustainable optical networks
• AI for reliable and secure optical networking
• AI foundation models and knowledge-driven optical networking
• AI-network-compute co-design and emerging intelligent services

All manuscripts submitted to the special issue will be subjected to peer review. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their completed manuscript to https://mc03.manuscriptcentral.com/icnjournal with “Special Issue on AI for Optical Networks” as article type.

Important Date

Manuscript Due: December 31, 2026

Guest Editors

Dr. Wei Wang

School of Electronic Engineering, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China

E-mail: weiw@bupt.edu.cn

Dr. Fan Li

School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-Sen University, China

E-mail: lifan39@mail.sysu.edu.cn

Dr. Sabidur Rahman

University of California, Davis, USA

E-mail: krahman@ucdavis.edu