Publisher Summary
This chapter discusses the basic properties of classical micro-optics and thin-film optical devices, and the new and promising concept of thin-film micro-optics. The chapter also discusses the problems of design, fabrication, characterization, and operational principles in detail. The advantages of the thin-film micro-optical approach are demonstrated by the recent results of ultrashort-pulse and vacuum ultraviolet beamshaping experiments. Needle beams can be regarded as a real physical approximation of rays bridging the gap between geometrical and wave optics in a certain way. The chapter lays particular emphasis on the generation of well-localized, pseudo-nondiffracting few-cycle wavepackets, which may give an idea of the great potential of thin-film micro-optics to open new frontiers of spatiotemporal beam shaping. It provides an outlook to the future of thin-film micro-optics.