Mario Agio is a Senior Researcher at the National Institute of Optics (INO-CNR) and the European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS), Florence, Italy. His research interests focus on single-molecule spectroscopy and optical nanoscopy, quantum- and nonlinear-optics in photonic nanostructures, plasmonics and metamaterials. He has been awarded the Latsis Prize of ETH-Zurich for his significant contributions to the field of theoretical nano-optics. Andrea Alù is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas, Austin, whose research interests span metamaterials and plasmonics, miniaturised antennas and nanoantennas, nanocircuits and nanostructure modelling. He received the 2012 SPIE Early Career Achievement Award, and the 2011 URSI Issac Koga Gold Medal for his contributions to the theory and application of electromagnetic metamaterials.

• Part I. Fundamentals: 1. From near-field optics to optical antennas D. Pohl; 2. Optical antenna theory, design and applications A. Alù and N. Engheta; 3. Impedance of a nanoantenna F. Marquier and J-J. Greffet; 4. Where high-frequency engineering advances optics: active nanoparticles as nanoantennas R. W. Ziolkowski, S. Arslanagić and J. Geng; 5. Optical antennas for field-enhanced spectroscopy J. Aizpurua and R. Esteban; 6. Directionality, polarization and enhancement by optical antennas T. H. Taminiau, A. Curto and N. F. van Hulst; 7. Antennas, quantum optics and near-field microscopy V. Sandoghdar, M. Agio, X-W. Chen, S. Götzinger and K-G. Lee; 8. Nonlinear optical antennas H. Harutyunyan, G. Volpe and L. Novonty; 9. Coherent control of nano-optical excitations W. Pfeiffer, M. Aeschlimann and T. Brixner; Part II. Modeling, Design and Characterization: 10. Computational electrodynamics for optical antennas O. J. F. Martin; 11. First-principles simulations of near-field effects J. L. Payton, S. M. Morton and L. Jensen; 12. Field distribution near optical antennas at the subnanometer scale C. Pecharromán; 13. Fabrication and optical characterization of nanoantennas J. Prangsma, P. Biagioni and B. Hecht; 14. Probing and imaging of optical nanoantennas with PEEM P. Melchior, D. Bayer and M. Aeschlimann; 15. Fabrication, characterization and applications of optical antenna arrays D. Dregely, J. Dorfmüller, M. Hentschel and H. Giessen; 16. Novel fabrication methods for optical antennas W. Zhou, J. Y. Suh and T. W. Odom; 17. Plasmodic properties of colloidal clusters: towards new nanomaterials and optical circuits J. A. Fan and F. Capasso; Part III. Applications: 18. Optical antennas for information technology and energy harvesting M. L. Brongersma; 19. Nanoantennas for refractive-index sensing T. Shegai, M. Svedendahl, S. Chen, A. Dahlin and M. Käll; 20. Nanoimaging with optical antennas P. Verma and Y. Saito; 21. Aperture optical antennas J. Wenger.

'The book, enriched by an illuminating preface by the editors, 958 references grouped at the end of the volume, and a detailed subject index, is an excellent and indispensable tool for researchers as well as for graduate students who undertake their career in this fascinating and promising field.' Giorgio Benedek, University of Milano, Bicocca, and Donostia International Physics Center