Founded in 1916, Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America, OSA) was organized to increase and diffuse the knowledge of optics, pure and applied. One of the Society's major activities is the publication of peer-reviewed journals and books. Though access to current Optica Publishing Group content is no longer licensed, access to the 2007 - 2011 volumes of the journals and proceedings is still available.

The journal collection on the SpringerLink platform includes more than 2,500 English-language and close to 200 German-language journals. The current subscription provides Max Planck researchers with full text access to nearly the entire journal collection. In addition, the Max Planck Society covers article-processing charges in line with the SpringerOpen and the Springer Open Choice programmes. Further details are available on the MPDL website.