  As a promising technique, extremely large-scale (XL)-arrays offer potential
solutions for overcoming the severe path loss in millimeter-wave (mmWave) and
TeraHertz (THz) channels, crucial for enabling 6G. Nevertheless, XL-arrays
introduce deviations in electromagnetic propagation compared to traditional
arrays, fundamentally challenging the assumption with the planar-wave model.
Instead, it ushers in the spherical-wave (SW) model to accurately represent the
near-field propagation characteristics, significantly increasing signal
processing complexity. Fortunately, the SW model shows remarkable benefits on
sensing and communications (S\&C), e.g., improving communication multiplexing
capability, spatial resolution, and degrees of freedom. In this context, this
article first overviews hardware/algorithm challenges, fundamental potentials,
promising applications of near-field S\&C enabled by XL-arrays. To overcome the
limitations of existing XL-arrays with dense uniform array layouts and improve
S\&C applications, we introduce sparse arrays (SAs). Exploring their potential,
we propose XL-SAs for mmWave/THz systems using multi-subarray designs. Finally,
several applications, challenges and resarch directions are identified.
