Complex light / Dr. Jeff Secor, Prof. Robert Alfano, Dr. Solyman Ashrafi.

"Version: 20170101"--Title page verso.

Introduction -- Background -- Current directions -- Outlook.

The emerging field of complex light—the study and application of custom light beams with tailored intensity, polarization or phase—is a focal point for fundamental breakthroughs in optical science. As this review will show, those advances in fundamental understanding, coupled with the latest developments in complex light generation, are translating into a range of diverse and cross-disciplinary applications that span microscopy, high-data-rate communications, optical trapping and quantum optics. We can expect more twists along the way, too, as researchers seek to manipulate and control the propagation speed of complex light beams, while others push the more exotic possibilities afforded by complex light in quantum-entanglement experiments.

Final-year undergraduates, new PhD students and early-career scientists.

Also available in print.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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Jeff Secor recently received his PhD and is currently a research associate in physics at the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers, The City College of New York. His interests are in fundamental physics and spectroscopy, with applications to photoactive nano compounds and solar-energy harvesting. He has worked with optical studies of natural photosynthetic systems, condensed matter and optoelectronics, and organic carbon dots. He recently began working in the field of complex light and its applications to physical spectroscopy. He is also an avid urban gardener. Prof. Robert R Alfano PhD is Distinguished Professor of Science and Engineering at The City College of New York (CCNY) of the City University of New York. He has contributed greatly to the field of ultrafast laser science and is a pioneer in the application of light and photonic technologies to the study of biological, biomedical and condensed-matter systems. Some of his most significant achievements include the discovery and description of the supercontinuum, development of new tunable Cr3+/Cr4+ lasers, advances in laser spectroscopic and optical imaging techniques, and studies of ultrafast pulse propagation in scattering media. He is a fellow of the APS, OSA, IEEE, New York Academy of Sciences, and an Alfred P Sloan fellow. He received his PhD in physics from New York University and spent eight years at GTE Labs (now Verizon) before joining CCNY. He received the OSA Charles Hard Townes award in 2008, SPIE Britton Chance Biomedical Optics award in 2012, the APS Arthur L Schawlow prize in laser science in 2013 and OSA 2016 Feld Award in Biophotonics. Solyman Ashrafi PhD is a managing partner at NxGen Partners and a technology entrepreneur with over 25 years of product development expertise. He has previously led the social messaging, digital media (music and video), financial services, advertising and rich communications services product teams at metroPCS. Here he was responsible for all product partnerships with telecom operators, internet companies, advertising agencies, video/music content providers, search companies, app developers and OTTs. Prior to metroPCS, he designed and built telecom networks for major operators in the US and Europe and held executive positions at Nortel, Ericsson, LCC and CSC. During his career, Solyman has raised money from multiple funds and launched a number of venturebacked companies in software, technology and cloud-based applications. Solyman was the stakeholder board member of an incubator for Nortel in 1997 and an accelerator for Ericsson in 1999 for their investment on new technology companies. He also worked closely with Roger Linquist (CEO and Founder) in the 2013 merger of metroPCS with T-Mobile. Solyman holds a PhD in applied physics, a MEE in communications engineering, an MSc in wave propagation, and a BEE degree in electrical engineering.

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