  Interference of electromagnetic modes supported by subwavelength photonic
structures is one of the key concepts that underpins the subwavelength control
of light in meta-optics. It drives the whole realm of all-dielectric
Mie-resonant nanophotonics with many applications for low-loss nanoscale
optical antennas, metasurfaces, and metadevices. Specifically, interference of
the electric and toroidal dipole moments results in a very peculiar,
low-radiating optical state associated with the concept of optical anapole.
Here, we uncover the physics of multimode interferences and multipolar
interplay in nanostructures with an intriguing example of the optical anapole.
We review the recently emerged field of anapole electrodynamics explicating its
relevance to multipolar nanophotonics, including direct experimental
observations, manifestations in nonlinear optics, and rapidly expanding
applications in nanoantennas, active photonics, and metamaterials.
