Proceedings of the 20th Course of the International School of Quantum Electronics held in Erice, Italy, November 14-24, 1996

This book provides the reader with the broad range of materials that were discussed in a series of short courses presented at Georgia Tech on the design, fabrication, and testing of diffractive optical elements (DOEs). Although there are not long derivations or detailed methods for specific engineering calculations, the reader should be familiar and comfortable with basic computational techniques. This text is not a 'cookbook' for producing DOEs, but it should provide readers with sufficient information to assess whether this technology would benefit their work, and to understand the requirements for using the concepts and techniques presented by the authors.

This text examines the technology behind the plethora of modern industrial and domestic technologies which incorporate micro-optics eg. CDs, cameras, automated manufacturing systems, mobile communications etc. It includes a simple but comprehensive introduction to micro-optical developments design, and an overview of fabrication and replication technology. The theoretical, practical and industrial developments in micro-scale optoelectronics continue apace in the late 1990s. In this book, a distinguished group of physicists and engineers describe the current state of research and applications in micro-optics. It provides the theoretical background and an overview of current technology, with several chapters taking a deeper look at specific recent applications and future trends. The book concentrates on diffractive and refractive micro- optical elements, such as lenses, fan-out gratings, optimized phase elements and polarisers. Sections are included on the simulation and optimization of design for micro-optics and subsequently the efficient transformation from design to real optical elements, using techniques such as e-beam writing, laser beam writing, lithography, etching and thin film deposition.

From optical fundamentals to advanced applications, this comprehensive guide to micro-optics covers all the key areas for those who need an in-depth introduction to micro-optic devices, technologies, and applications. Topics covered range from basic optics, optical materials, refraction, and diffraction, to micro-mirrors, micro-lenses, diffractive optics, optoelectronics, and fabrication. Advanced topics, such as tunable and nano-optics, are also discussed. Real-world case studies and numerous worked examples are provided throughout, making complex concepts easier to follow, whilst an extensive bibliography provides a valuable resource for further study. With exercises provided at the end of each chapter to aid and test understanding, this is an ideal textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students taking courses in optics, photonics, micro-optics, microsystems, and MEMs. It is also a useful self-study guide for research engineers working on optics development.

This new edition features numerous updates and additions. Especially 4 new chapters on Fiber Optics, Integrated Optics, Frequency Combs and Interferometry reflect the changes since the first edition. In addition, major complete updates for the chapters: Optical Materials and Their Properties, Optical Detectors, Nanooptics, and Optics far Beyond the Diffraction Limit. Features Contains over 1000 two-color illustrations. Includes over 120 comprehensive tables with properties of optical materials and light sources. Emphasizes physical concepts over extensive mathematical derivations. Chapters with summaries, detailed index Delivers a wealth of up-to-date references.

Microoptics is an important enabling technology for many areas of application. In this updated second edition of their modern text and reference book, Stefan Sinzinger and Jürgen Jahns expertly and comprehensively present the basics and applications in microoptics, while incorporating the most important developments in recent years. An absolute must for physicists and electrical engineers, from advanced students right up to designers working in the field.

Miniaturization and mass replications have begun to lead the optical industry in the transition from traditional analog to novel digital optics. As digital optics enter the realm of mainstream technology through the worldwide sale of consumer electronic devices, this timely book aims to present the topic of digital optics in a unified way. Ranging from micro-optics to nanophotonics, and design to fabrication through to integration in final products, it reviews the various physical implementations of digital optics in either micro-refractives, waveguide (planar lightwave chips), diffractive and hybrid optics or sub-wavelength structures (resonant gratings, surface plasmons, photonic crystals and metamaterials). Finally, it presents a comprehensive list of industrial and commercial applications that are taking advantage of the unique properties of digital optics. Applied Digital Optics is aimed primarily at optical engineers and product development and technical marketing managers; it is also of interest to graduate-level photonics students and micro-optic foundries. Helps optical engineers review and choose the appropriate software tools to design, model and generate fabrication files. Gives product managers access to an exhaustive list of applications available in today’s market for integrating such digital optics, as well as where the next potential application of digital optics might be. Provides a broad view for technical marketing managers in all aspects of digital optics, and how such optics can be classified. Explains the numerical implementation of optical design and modelling techniques. Enables micro-optics foundries to integrate the latest fabrication and replication techniques, and accordingly fine tune their own fabrication processes.

"Thin-film microoptics" stands for novel types of microoptical components and systems which combine the well-known features of miniaturized optical elements with the specific advantages of thin optical layers. This approach enables for innovative solutions in shaping light fields in spatial, temporal and spectral domain. Low-dispersion and small-angle systems for tailoring and diagnosing laser pulses under extreme conditions as well as VUV-capable microoptics can be realized. Continuous-relief microstructures of refractive, reflective and hybrid characteristics are obtained by vapor deposition technologies with shadow masks in rotating systems. The book gives a comprehensive overview on fundamental laws of microoptics, types of thin-film microoptical components, methods and constraints of their design, fabrication and characterization, structure transfer into substrates, optical functions and applications. Recent theoretical and experimental results of basic and applied research are addressed. Particular emphasis will be laid on the generation of localized, nondiffracting few-cycle wavepackets of extended depth of focus and high tolerance against distortions. It is shown that the spectral interference of ultrabroadband conical beams results in spatio-temporal structures of characteristic X-shape, so-called X-waves, which are interesting for robust optical communication. New prospects are opened by exploiting small conical angles from nanolayer microoptics and self-apodized truncation of Bessel beams leading to the formation of single-maximum nondiffracting beams or "needle beams". Thin-film microoptical beam shapers have an enormous potential for future applications like the two-dimensional ultrafast optical processing, multichannel laser-matter interaction, nonlinear spectroscopy or advanced measuring techniques.- Introduces a new and promising branch of microoptics - Gives a compact overview on the types, properties and applications of the most important microoptical components containing valuable data and facts- Helps to understand the basic optical laws - Reports on the historical development line of thin-film microoptics - Provides brand new results of research and development in the field of ultrashort-pulse laser beam shaping and diagnostics- Discusses the future trends and first approaches of next generation microoptics- Contains a carefully assorted glossary of the most important technical terms