Driven by their potential applications, vectorial optical fields with spatially inhomogeneous states of polarization within the cross section have drawn significant attention recently. This work intends to review some...Driven by their potential applications, vectorial optical fields with spatially inhomogeneous states of polarization within the cross section have drawn significant attention recently. This work intends to review some of the latest development of this rapidly growing field of optics and offer a general overview of the current status of this field in a few areas. Mathematical descriptions of generalized vectorial optical fields are provided along with several special examples. A time-reversal methodology for the creation of a wide variety of exotic optical focal fields with prescribed characteristics within the focal volume is presented. Recently developed methods for the generation of vectorial optical fields that utilize fiber lasers,digital lasers, vectorial optical field generator, metasurfaces or photoalignment liquid crystals are summarized. The interactions of these vectorial optical fields with various micro-and nano-structures are presented and the prospects of their potential applications are discussed. The connection of vectorial optical fields with higher dimensionality in quantum information is summarized.展开更多
基金support provided through the Program for Professor of Special Appointment(Eastern Scholar)at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learningalso partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(91438108 and 61505062)the Chinese Scholarship Council for supporting their study at the University of Dayton through the Joint Training PhD Program and Visiting Scholar Program
文摘Driven by their potential applications, vectorial optical fields with spatially inhomogeneous states of polarization within the cross section have drawn significant attention recently. This work intends to review some of the latest development of this rapidly growing field of optics and offer a general overview of the current status of this field in a few areas. Mathematical descriptions of generalized vectorial optical fields are provided along with several special examples. A time-reversal methodology for the creation of a wide variety of exotic optical focal fields with prescribed characteristics within the focal volume is presented. Recently developed methods for the generation of vectorial optical fields that utilize fiber lasers,digital lasers, vectorial optical field generator, metasurfaces or photoalignment liquid crystals are summarized. The interactions of these vectorial optical fields with various micro-and nano-structures are presented and the prospects of their potential applications are discussed. The connection of vectorial optical fields with higher dimensionality in quantum information is summarized.