The beauty of optical birefringence lies in the fact that it provides an independent control of light over different polarization directions, which leads to many important applications in today's optical systems. This thesis describes the applications of existing naturally-occurring birefringent materials as well as the engineered formed-birefringent meta-materials via nano-fabrication. In particular the application of birefringent materials in optical trapping, waveguide engineering and imaging are discussed. The investigation methods include numerical simulation, nano-fabrication and experimental validation. @en

The ability to apply force and torque directly to micro- and nanoscale particles in optical traps has a wide range of applications. While full control of both force and torque in three dimensions has been realized using top-down fabrication of rod-shaped particles composed of birefringent crystalline materials, widespread usage of such particles is limited as the optical constants of the predominant birefringent materials (quartz SiO2 and rutile TiO2) preclude coverage of the full application space of optical trapping. Here, we show that multilayer metamaterial nanoparticles provide access to a wide range of optical constants that can be specifically tuned for each application. Selecting the material pair Nb2O5/SiO2 from the library of amorphous dielectrics as our metamaterial, we show that its refractive index and birefringence can be designed by adapting the ratio of layer thicknesses. Using a robust top-down fabrication process, we show that uniformly sized, free-floating Nb2O5/SiO2 particles with high birefringence at moderate refractive index are obtained at high yield. Using an optical torque wrench, we show that these particles function as joint force and torque transducers while maintaining excellent stability in aqueous solutions and can be controllably optimized for particular physical characteristics such as maximal torque transfer or rapid response time. We expect that such customizable birefringent metamaterial nanoparticles whose properties surpass those of conventional crystalline particles will provide a means to unleash the full potential of optical trapping applications. @en

For advanced imaging systems, e.g., projection systems for optical lithography, spatially varying aberration calibration is of utmost importance to achieve uniform imaging performance over the entire field-of-view (FOV). Here we present an efficient, accurate, and robust spatially varying aberration calibration method using a pair of 2-dimensional periodic pinhole array masks: the first mask in the object plane and the second mask in the image plane. Our method divides the entire FOV of the imaging system into partially overlapping subregions by using a measurement system consisting of an additional imaging system and a camera sensor. Each subregion, which covers several mask periods, is imaged onto a distinct camera pixel by the measurement system. Our method measures “Airy disc”-like patterns simultaneously in all subregions by scanning the second mask relative to the first mask over one mask p eriod. The number of subregions is equal to the number of camera pixels, and the sampling number of the measured patterns is equal to the scanning step number. The aberrations can be retrieved from the patterns measured in through-focus planes using an iterative optimization algorithm. In this paper, we performed experimental validation on a realistic lithography machine and demonstrate that our method is capable of retrieving the coefficients of 37 aberration terms, expressed as Zernike polynomials, with a sensitivity at nanometer scale.@en

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a noniterative diffractive imaging method for reconstructing the complex-valued transmission function of an object illuminated by spatially partially coherent light from the far-field diffraction pattern. Our method is based on a pinhole array mask, which is specially designed such that the correlation function in the mask plane can be obtained directly by inverse Fourier transforming the diffraction pattern. Compared to the traditional iterative diffractive imaging methods using spatially partially coherent illumination, our method is noniterative and robust to the degradation of the spatial coherence of the illumination. In addition to diffractive imaging, the proposed method can also be applied to spatial coherence property characterization, e.g., free-space optical communication and optical coherence singularity measurement. @en

A Ca5Ni4(VO4)6 low loss microwave dielectric ceramic with A site deficient garnet structure was prepared via the conventional solid state reaction method. Ca5Ni4(VO4)6 sintered at 980°C for 4h to a relative density of 96.2% exhibits favorable microwave dielectric properties such as a permittivity of 10.9, a Q×f value of 96,500GHz, and a τ f value of -63.6ppm/°C. Its large negative τ f could be compensated by forming a solid solution with LiCa2Mg2V3O12, that led to improved properties with a near-zero τ f =-3.7ppm/°C, ε r =10.2, Q×f=59,300GHz for 0.8Ca5Ni4(VO4)6-0.2LiCa2Mg2V3O12 after sintering at 955°C for 4h. Further on, 0.8Ca5Ni4(VO4)6-0.2LiCa2Mg2V3O12 proved to be chemically compatible with Ag electrodes, so it might be a possible candidate for LTCC applications.@en

Hyperbolic Meta-Materials (HMMs) are anisotropic materials with permittivity tensor that has both positive and negative eigenvalues. Here we report that by using a type II HMM as cladding material, a waveguide which only supports higher order modes can be achieved, while the lower order modes become leaky and are absorbed in the HMM cladding. This counter-intuitive property can lead to novel application in optical communication and photonic integrated circuit. The loss in our HMM-Insulator-HMM (HIH) waveguide is smaller than that of similar guided mode in a Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) waveguide.@en

Hyperbolic Meta-Materials (HMMs) are anisotropic materials with permittivity tensor that has both positive and negative eigenvalues. Here we report that by using a type II HMM as cladding material, a waveguide which only supports higher order modes can be achieved, while the lower order modes become leaky and are absorbed in the HMM cladding. This counter-intuitive property can lead to novel application in optical communication and photonic integrated circuit. The loss in our HMM-Insulator-HMM (HIH) waveguide is smaller than that of similar guided mode in a Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) waveguide.@en

Hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) are anisotropic materials with a permittivity tensor that has both positive and negative eigenvalues. Here we report that by using a type II HMM as a cladding material, a waveguide that only supports higher-order modes can be achieved, while the lower-order modes become leaky and are absorbed in the HMM cladding. This counter-intuitive property can lead to novel application in optical communications and photonic integrated circuits. The loss in our HMM insulator-HMM (HIH) waveguide is smaller than that of similar guided modes in a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide.@en

Optical trapping of (sub)micron-sized particles is broadly employed in nanoscience and engineering. The materials commonly employed for these particles, however, have physical properties that limit the transfer of linear or angular momentum (or both). This reduces the magnitude of forces and torques, and the spatiotemporal resolution, achievable in linear and angular traps. Here, we overcome these limitations through the use of single-crystal rutile TiO 2 , which has an exceptionally large optical birefringence, a high index of refraction, good chemical stability, and is amenable to geometric control at the nanoscale. We show that rutile TiO 2 nanocylinders form powerful joint force and torque transducers in aqueous environments by using only moderate laser powers to apply nN·nm torques at kHz rotational frequencies to tightly trapped particles. In doing so, we demonstrate how rutile TiO 2 nanocylinders outperform other materials and offer unprecedented opportunities to expand the control of optical force and torque at the nanoscale. @en