This special issue of Applied Optics on Advanced Infrared Technology and Applications collects significantly expanded refereed papers presented at the conference of the same name, held in Quebec City, Canada, Sept. 27 to Sept. 30, 2017. All the authors who participated at the conference were contacted and invited to contribute to this special issue. Furthermore, the AO dedicated issue on AITA was open to contributions from other practitioners of IR, through direct contact and a call for papers published in AO.