Author Description

Polarization is a vector nature of light that plays an important role in optical science and engineering. While existing textbook treatments of light assume beams with spatially homogeneous polarization, there is an increasing interest in vectorial optical fields with spatially engineered states of polarization. New effects and phenomena have been predicted and observed for light beams with these unconventional polarization states. This edited review volume aims to provide a comprehensive overview and summarize the latest developments in this important emerging field of optics. This book will cover the fundamentals including mathematical and physical descriptions, experimental generation, manipulation, focusing, propagation, and the applications of the engineered vectorial optical fields in focal field engineering, plasmonic focusing and optical antenna, single molecular imaging, optical tweezers/trapping, as well as optical measurements and instrumentations. Contents: Cylindrical Vector Beams (Qiwen Zhan) Vector Optical Fields and Their Novel Effects (Hui-Tian Wang) Cylindrical Vector Beams for Spectroscopic Imaging of Single Molecules and Nanoparticles (Regina Jäger, Anna M Chizhik, Alexey I Chizhik, Frank Wackenhut and Alfred J Meixner) Comprehensive Focal Field Engineering with Vectorial Optical Fields (Weibin Chen and Qiwen Zhan) Plasmonics with Vectorial Optical Fields (Guanghao Rui and Qiwen Zhan) Optical Measurement Techniques Utilizing Vectorial Optical Fields (Qiwen Zhan) Partially Coherent Vector Beams: From Theory to Experiment (Yangjian Cai, Fei Wang, Chengliang Zhao, Shijun Zhu, Gaofeng Wu and Yiming Dong) Readership: Students, professionals, post-graduate and academic researchers in the areas of physics, optics and electrical engineering.