Structured singular light is an ubiquitous phenomenon. It is not only created when light refracts at a water surface but can also be found in the blue daytime sky. Such light fields include a spatially varying amplitude, phase, or polarization, enabling the occurrence of optical singularities. As structurally stable units of the light field, these singularities are particularly interesting since they determine its topology. In this excellent book, the author presents a pioneering study of structured singular light, thereby contributing many original approaches. Especially in the field of polarization and its rich number of different types of singularities the book defines and drives a completely new field. The work demonstrates how to control complex polarization singularity networks and their propagation. Additionally, the author pioneers tightly focusing vectorial beams, also developing an urgently needed detection scheme for three-dimensional nanoscale polarization structures. She also studies classical spatial entanglement using structured light, introducing entanglement beating and paraxial spin-orbit-coupling. The book is hallmarked by its comprehensive and thorough way of describing a plethora of different approaches to structure light by amplitude, phase and polarization, as well as the important role of optical singularities.

After her Bachelor studies at the University of Muenster, Germany and research at the Universitat de les Illes Baleares, Spain, Dr. Eileen Otte earned her Master degree with distinction in 2015. Based on her Master studies on polarization structures, she continued with PhD studies in the field of structured singular light in the group of Prof. Dr. Cornelia Denz, University of Muenster. Part of her PhD was realized in the group of Prof. Dr. Andrew Forbes, WITS University, South Africa within a binational collaboration. She finished her PhD in 2019 with summa cum laude, honored by the WWU Dissertation Award and the Research Award 2020 of the Industrial Club Duesseldorf and the NRW AWK. Currently, she is working as postdoctoral researcher at the University of Muenster.