Fifteen contributors in industry and universities in the US, Sweden, Germany, and the Czech Republic have written on the latest developments and applications of ellipsometry. The theory of ellipsometry, the optical physics of materials, and data analysis for spectroscopic ellipsometry are described at length. Subsequent chapters concern instrumentation, including the optical components and the simple PCSA ellipsometer, the rotating polarizer and analyzer, polarization modulation, and multichannel methods. Current applications are described for SiO2 films (by Eugene A. Irene of the U. of North Carolina) and for generalized ellipsometry (by Mathias Schubert of the U. Leipzig in Germany) in chapters that include discussion of theory. New developments such as VUV ellipsometry, spectroscopic infrared, and applications in the life sciences are the topics of the final chapters. Each chapter concludes with a bibliography