This book provides an introductory overview of a variety of novel light beams, covering their basic physics and optics, and discussing new cutting-edge applications to which they give rise in science, technology, and medicine. Following a short introduction, topics include optical propagation, Gaussian beams and lasers, orbital angular momentum and Laguerre–Gauss beams, Bessel and Airy beams, as well as other types of optical beams. Later chapters focus on entangled and pin-like beams and beam propagation through turbulence, before concluding with a discussion of the new frontiers in the field. It is an ideal guide for undergraduate students, beginning graduate students, or researchers who are not experts in this field.

Key Features

• Covers a broad range of exotic optical beams and their applications
  
• Many have never been covered in detail outside the original research literature
  
• Applications range from nanotechnology to medical diagnostics
  
• Written at an advanced undergraduate level but covering a number of cutting-edge research topics
  
• Of interest to a broad range of readers in areas such as physics, optics, engineering, and biomedical research