The book gives a thorough introduction to singularities and their development. It explains in detail important topics such as the types of singularities, their properties, detection and application, and emerging research trends.

Singularities are ubiquitous in nature and generate high levels of interest and activity among scientists. At a singularity, a parameter of interest becomes indeterminate, a single point at which a mathematical quantity is not defined or not ‘well behaved’. In optics, a singularity refers to a point at which some parameter describing the electromagnetic field becomes indeterminate. Even though at the singular point, things are not well defined, the neighbourhood points of a singularity are characterized by very large gradients and hence there is significant scope for new discoveries. Recent advances have gathered pace, and interest continues to grow in this field, and with its applications.

Key Features:

• Simple presentation suitable for beginners.
• Extensive coverage of the field suitable for experts.
• Comprehensive literature survey.
• A key reference book for academics and industry experts working within the field.

1. Preface 2. Chapter 1 - Introduction 3. Chapter 2 - Topological Features (with recent developments) 4. Chapter 3 - Generation and Detection methods (with recent developments, including new generation methods based on meta-materials) 5. Chapter 4 - Propagation Characteristics 6. Chapter 5 - Internal Energy flows 7. Chapter 6 - Vortices in computational Optics 8. Chapter 7 - Angular momentum of light 9. Chapter 8 – Applications 10. Chapter 9 - Polarization singularities (with recent developments) 11. Chapter 10 – Stokes Singularities 12. Applications (with recent developments) 13. Structured Light