Structured Singular Light Fields

Structured singular light is an ubiquitous phenomenon. It is not only created when light refracts at a water surface but can also be found in the blue daytime sky. Such light fields include a spatially varying amplitude, phase, or polarization, enabling the occurrence of optical singularities. As structurally stable units of the light field, these singularities are particularly interesting since they determine its topology. In this excellent book, the author presents a pioneering study of structured singular light, thereby contributing many original approaches. Especially in the field of polarization and its rich number of different types of singularities the book defines and drives a completely new field. The work demonstrates how to control complex polarization singularity networks and their propagation. Additionally, the author pioneers tightly focusing vectorial beams, also developing an urgently needed detection scheme for three-dimensional nanoscale polarization structures. She also studies classical spatial entanglement using structured light, introducing entanglement beating and paraxial spin-orbit-coupling. The book is hallmarked by its comprehensive and thorough way of describing a plethora of different approaches to structure light by amplitude, phase and polarization, as well as the important role of optical singularities.

The optical trapping of colloidal matter is an unequalled field of technology for enabling precise handling of particles on microscopic scales, solely by the force of light. Although the basic concept of optical tweezers, which are based on a single laser beam, has matured and found a vast number of exciting applications, in particular in the life sciences, there are strong demands for more sophisticated approaches. This thesis gives an introductory overview of existing optical micromanipulation techniques and reviews the state-of-the-art of the emerging field of structured light fields and their applications in optical trapping, micromanipulation, and organisation. The author presents established, and introduces novel concepts for the holographic and non-holographic shaping of a light field. A special emphasis of the work is the demonstration of advanced applications of the thus created structured light fields in optical micromanipulation, utilising various geometries and unconventional light propagation properties. While most of the concepts developed are demonstrated with artificial microscopic reference particles, the work concludes with a comprehensive demonstration of optical control and alignment of bacterial cells, and hierarchical supramolecular organisation utilising dedicated nanocontainer particles.

Principles of Electron Optics: Second Edition, Advanced Wave Optics provides a self-contained, modern account of electron optical phenomena with the Dirac or Schrödinger equation as a starting point. Knowledge of this branch of the subject is essential to understanding electron propagation in electron microscopes, electron holography and coherence. Sections in this new release include, Electron Interactions in Thin Specimens, Digital Image Processing, Acquisition, Sampling and Coding, Enhancement, Linear Restoration, Nonlinear Restoration – the Phase Problem, Three-dimensional Reconstruction, Image Analysis, Instrument Control, Vortex Beams, The Quantum Electron Microscope, and much more. Includes authoritative coverage of many recent developments in wave electron optics Describes the interaction of electrons with solids and the information that can be obtained from electron-beam techniques Includes new content on multislice optics, 3D reconstruction, Wigner optics, vortex beams and the quantum electron microscope

Plasmonics has already revolutionized molecular imaging, cancer research, optical communications, sensing, spectroscopy, and metamaterials development. This book is a collective effort by several research groups to push the frontiers of plasmonics research into the emerging area of harnessing and generation of photon angular momentum on micro- and nanoscales. It offers a glimpse into the ongoing research efforts to develop new types of plasmonic vortex–pinning platforms and chiral nanostructures for light harvesting, bio(chemical) sensing, drug discovery, and nanoscale energy transfer.

New possibilities have recently emerged for producing optical beams with complex and intricate structures, and for the non-contact optical manipulation of matter. Structured Light and Its Applications fully describes the electromagnetic theory, optical properties, methods and applications associated with this new technology. Detailed discussions are given of unique beam characteristics, such as optical vortices and other wavefront structures, the associated phase properties and photonic aspects, along with applications ranging from cold atom manipulation to optically driven micromachines. Features include: Comprehensive and authoritative treatments of the latest research in this area of nanophotonics, written by the leading researchers Accounts of numerous microfluidics, nanofabrication, quantum informatics and optical manipulation applications Coverage that fully spans the subject area, from fundamental theory and simulations to experimental methods and results Graduate students and established researchers in academia, national laboratories and industry will find this book an invaluable guide to the latest technologies in this rapidly developing field. Comprehensive and definitive source of the latest research in nanotechnology written by the leading people in the field From theory to applications - all is presented in detail Editor is Chair of the SPIE Nanotechnology Technical Group and is leading the way in generation and manipulation of complex beams

As in all nonlinear optics, control over the spatial phase of the fundamental light fields allows extensive influence on the well-established effect of High-Har monic Generation (HHG). This results in the realisation of coherent extreme ultraviolet (XUV) light with unique properties. Christian Kern shows and discusses in his thesis two schemes where phase shaping of ultrashort laser pulses is appli ed on scales below their fundamental wavelength. He shows the limitations of how nanoplasmonic objects can be administered for strong field physics. Furthermore, a novel approach of producing XUV light carrying orbital angular momentum via HHG is demonstrated and experimentally verified.

The five-volume set may serve as a comprehensive reference on electromagnetic analysis and its applications at all frequencies, from static fields to optics and photonics. The material includes micro- and nanomagnetics, the new generation of electric machines, renewable energy, hybrid vehicles, low-noise motors; antennas and microwave devices, plasmonics, metamaterials, lasers, and more.Written at a level accessible to both graduate students and engineers, Electromagnetic Analysis is a comprehensive reference, covering methods and applications at all frequencies (from statics to optical). Each volume contains pedagogical/tutorial material of high archival value as well as chapters on state-of-the-art developments.