A perspective on structured light's applications

Abstract

For the past few decades, structured light has been gaining popularity across various research fields. Its fascinating properties have been exploited for both previously unforeseen and established applications from new perspectives. Crucial to this is the several techniques that have been proposed for both their generation and characterization. On the one hand, the former has been boosted by the invention of computer-controlled devices, which combined with a few optical components allow flexible and complete control of the spatial and polarization degrees of freedom on light, thus enabling a plethora of proof-of-principle experiments for novel and old applications. On the other hand, characterizing light beams is important not only for gaining better insights into light's properties but also for potentially being used as metrics. In this perspective, we thus offer our take on a few key applied research fields where structured light is particularly promising, as well as some pivotal generation and characterization techniques. In addition, we share our vision of where we believe structured light's applications are moving toward.