Applications of Optical Birefringence

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.