Thin Film Micro-Optics

"Thin-film microoptics" stands for novel types of micro-optical components that are well-known for thin optical layers. This approach enables innovative solutions 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. The book gives a comprehensive overview on the nature of micro-optical elements, structures and constraints, structure and applications. Recent theoretical and experimental results. Particular emphasis will be laid on the part of localized, nondiffracting few-cycle wavepackets. It is shown that the spectral interference of ultrabroadband conical beams results in spatio-temporal structures of the X-shape, so-called X-waves, which is interesting for robust optical communication. New prospects 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 the future of ultrafast optical processing, multichannel laser 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 important microoptical components
- Helps to understand the basic optical laws
- Reports on the historical development of thin-film microoptics
- Provides a new generation of ultrasound-pulse laser beam shaping and diagnostics
- Discusses the future trends and the first approaches of the next generation microoptics
- Contains a carefully assorted glossary of the most important technical terms

Preface
acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. Micro-Optics
3. Thin-Film Optics
4. Thin-Film Microoptics
5. Characterization of Thin-Film Microoptics
6. Spatial Beam Shaping with Thin-Film Microoptics
7. Spatio-Temporal Beam Shaping and Characterization of Ultrashort-Pulse Lasers
8. Outlook
References
Future Credits
Glossary
index