This $523,635 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program supports research at Colgate University to explore techniques for creating novel three-dimensional light patterns that have potential applications in biomedical imaging, communications, and quantum metrology. The principal investigator and undergraduate research team will investigate how manipulating the degrees of freedom in light, such as polarization and spatial mode, can lead to the formation of complex three-dimensional structures like caustics and vortex singularities. Through table-top optics experiments, the researchers will examine connections between light's wave equation and other physical systems, from cosmic gravitational lensing to atomic oscillations. The award will also fund the development and dissemination of instructional quantum optics laboratories to help prepare students for emerging careers in quantum information. No sub-awards are planned under this grant.