Menelaos K. Poutous is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics & Optical Science, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC, USA. Prior to this position he was a Principal Development Engineer with Digital Optics Corporation, Charlotte, NC; and before that he was a Lecturer at the Physics Department of Emory University, in Atlanta, GA. He received his Doctorate degree in Physics, from the School of Physics of the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1996. His research interests are in artificial optical surfaces, diffractive micro- and nano-optical elements, photolithographic fabrication processes and, applications of diffractive elements in laser cavities and devices.