Vector optical field manipulation via structural functional materials: Tutorial

Vector optical field (VOF) manipulation greatly extended the boundaries of traditional scalar optics over past decades. Meanwhile, newly emerging techniques enabled by structural functional materials have driven research domain into subwavelength regime, where abundant new physical phenomena and technologies been discovered exploited for practical applications. In this Tutorial, we outline basic principles, methodologies, applications VOF via materials. Among various technical routes, focus on metasurface-based approaches, which show obvious advantages regarding design flexibility, compactness systems, overall performances. Both forward inverse methods based rigorous solution Maxwell's equations are presented, provide a valuable basis future researchers. Finally, discuss generalized laws conventions manipulation. The in imaging, communications, precision measurement, laser fabrication, etc. highlighted.