Superenhanced photonic nanojet by core-shell microcylinders

The super-enhancement of photonic nanojets generated at the shadow side surfaces of core-shell microcylinders illuminated by a plane wave is reported. Using high resolution finite-difference time-domain simulation, the enhancements of photonic nanojet at resonance and off-resonance conditions of microcylinders are investigated. The intensity enhancement of photonic nanojet depends strongly on the thickness of metal shell. Under proper resonance condition, the photonic nanojet super-enhancement can be excited in the core-shell microcylinder. Even under off-resonance condition, the photonic nanojet from microcylinder is still strong enough. The results may provide a new technique to detect and image nanoscale objects below the diffraction limit. This could yield a new ultra-microscopy technique for using visible light to detecting nanoparticles, optical gratings, and single molecules.     

Control over parameters of photonic nanojets of dielectric microspheres

We report on the results of theoretical investigation of the parameters of photonic nanojets formed near the shadow surface of micron-sized dielectric spheres irradiated by a laser radiation. The longitudinal and transversal dimensions of the photonic nanojet and its peak intensity also are calculated as the functions of particle size, index of absorption, and optical contrast of the particulate material. The photonic nano-flux was simulated numerically in composite particles made of a core and a shell with different refractive indices and variable shell thickness. Some practical conclusions are drawn concerning the possible ways to gain the control over the nanojet parameters in micron-sized spherical particles.     

Real-space observation of photonic nanojet in dielectric microspheres

The three-dimensional real-space observation of photonic nanojet in different microspheres illuminated by a laser is reported. The finite-difference time-domain technique is used to perform the three-dimensional numerical simulation for the dielectric microspheres. The key parameters of photonic nanojet are measured by using a scanning optical microscope system. We reconstruct the three-dimensional real-space photonic nanojets from the collected stack of scanning images for polystyrene microspheres of 3 μm, 5 μm, and 8 μm diameters deposited on a glass substrate. Experimental results are compared to calculations and are found in good agreement with simulation results. The full width at half-maximum of the nanojet is 331 nm for a 3 μm microsphere at an incident wavelength of 633 nm. Our investigations show that photonic nanojets can be efficiently imaged by a microsphere and straightforwardly extended to rapidly distinguish the nano-objects in the far-field optical system.     

Influence of incident light polarization on photonic nanojet

Dielectric microspheres can confine light in a three-dimensional (3D) region called photonic nanojet is shown when they are illuminated by different polarized beams. The influence of incident light polarization on photonic nanojet using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is demostrated. The axial field intensity profiles of photonic nanojets for both the linear and circular polarization incident beams are very similar. Azimuthal polarization incident beam induces a doughnut beam along the optical axis, while the radial polarization incident beam permits one to reach an effective volume as small as 0.7(λ/n) 3 .     

Characterization of photonic nanojets in dielectric microdisks

The direct imaging of photonic nanojets in different dielectric microdisks illuminated by a laser source is reported. The SiO₂ and Si₃N₄ microdisks are of height 650 nm with diameters ranging from 3 μm to 8 μm. The finite-difference time-domain calculation is used to execute the numerical simulation for the photonic nanojets in the dielectric microdisks. The photonic nanojet measurements are performed with a scanning optical microscope system. The photonic nanojets with high intensity spots and low divergence are observed in the dielectric microdisks illuminated from the side with laser source of wavelengths 405 nm, 532 nm and 671 nm. The experimental results of key parameters are compared to the simulations and in agreement with theoretical results. Our studies show that photonic nanojets can be efficiently created by a dielectric microdisk and straightforwardly applied to nano-photonics circuit.     

Intensity‐Enhanced Apodization Effect on an Axially Illuminated Circular‐Column Particle‐Lens

A particle can function as a refractive lens to focus a plane wave, generating a narrow, high intensive, weak‐diverging beam within a sub‐wavelength volume, known as the ‘photonic nanojet’. It is known that apodization method, in the form of an amplitude pupil‐mask centrally situated on a particle‐lens, can further reduce the waist of a photonic nanojet, however, it usually lowers the intensity at the focus due to blocking the incident light. In this paper, the anomalously intensity‐enhanced apodization effect was discovered for the first time via numerical simulation of focusing of the axially illuminated circular‐column particle‐lenses, and a greater than 100% peak intensity increase was realised for the produced photonic nanojets.     

Ultra-high transmission of photonic nanojet induced modes in chains of core–shell microcylinders

The ultra-high transmission of photonic nanojet induced modes in chains of core–shell microcylinders illuminated by a plane wave is reported. Using high resolution finite-difference time-domain simulation, the periodical focusing of lightwave in straight chains of touching core–shell microcylinders is characterized with the periodicity of photonic nanojets corresponding to the diameter of two microcylinders. The core–shell microcylinders are efficiently coupled to the collimated incident lightwaves. We observe the lightwave with high optical transport of 3 dB in the maxima of transmission spectra for a chain of core–shell microcylinders. The chains of core–shell microcylinders can be assembled inside hollow waveguide and used in a variety of microscopy techniques, biomedical applications, and optical microprobes with subwavelength spatial resolution.     

Highly efficient optical coupling and transport phenomena in chains of dielectric microspheres

Using the generalized multiparticle Mie theory, we investigate optical coupling and transport through chains of dielectric microspheres. We identify two distinct coupling mechanisms of optical transport in terms of the coupling efficiency between neighboring microspheres, namely, evanescent coupling and nanojet coupling. We demonstrate that perfect whispering gallery mode propagation through a chain of evanescently coupled microspheres can be achieved. However, optical coupling and transport through a chain of nanojet-inducing microspheres is less efficient due to the radiative nature of photonic nanojets. Understanding these two optical coupling mechanisms is critical for selecting appropriate microspheres to build coupled resonator optical waveguides and other photon-manipulation devices for effective and low-loss guiding of photons.     

Properties of the 3D photonic nanojet based on the refractive index of surroundings

We exhibit a three-dimensional （3D） photonic nanojet based on a dielectric microsphere irradiated by a plane wave with the finite-difference time-domain （FDTD） method. We investigate the influence of the refractive index of the surrounding on the properties of the nanojet by simulating the electric field distributions in it. The simulation results show that, by optimally choosing the size of the sphere and the ratio of the refractive indices of the sphere and the surrounding, the focus point can occur just on the surface of the sphere even if the refractive index of the surrounding is changed. Additionally, the peak amplitude of the nanojet increases with increasing the refractive index of the surrounding. However, the decay length and the jet width of the nanojet decrease simultaneously. These effects may have potential applications in observation or manipulation of nano-objects such as antibodies in biology. In nanojet-enabled optical data storage, the photonic nanojet may be also helpful for improving data-storage capacities and retrieval speed by controlling the field amplitude, the decay length, and jet width of the nanojet.     

包裹团簇的纳米喷射

文章报道了加热包裹团簇（结构为Pb芯／PbO壳）产生纳米喷射。随着温度升高，熔点较低的铅核先熔化并膨胀，冲破氧化层外壳形成蝌蚪状的纳米喷射。温度可变拉曼谱研究表明纳米喷射形成与加热温度密切相关，其本质是与团簇内部压力有关，团簇内核融熔膨胀受到外壳限域而产生极高内压。     

Characteristics of photonic nanojets from two-layer dielectric hemisphere

The properties of the photonic nanojet generated by a two-layer dielectric microsphere are studied. Simulation results indicate that this novel structure can generate a photonic nanojet outside its volume when the refractive index contrast relative to the background medium is higher than 2:1 in the condition of plane wave incidence. When the refractive index is smaller than 2, we show that an ultralong nanojet generated by the two-layer hemisphere has an extension of 28.2 wavelengths, and compared with the homogeneous dielectric hemisphere, it has superior performance in jet length and focal distance. Its dependence on the configuration and refractive index is investigated numerically. According to the simulation of the two-layer dielectric microsphere, a photonic nanojet with a full width at half maximum(FWHM) less than 1/2 wavelength is obtained and the tunable behaviors of the photonic nanojet are demonstrated by changing the reflective indices of the material or radius contrast ratio.     

Negative Refraction in One-Dimensional Photonic Crystals with Tilted Interface

We investigate the wave propagation through the tilted interface of one-dimensional photonic crystals. Negative refraction can be realized by excitation of the Bloch states in the extended Brillouin zone with suppressed reflection. Equi-frequency surface analysis shows that the positive refraction, negative refraction or birefringence in this configuration can be achieved under a proper incident angle, which is confirmed by finite-difference timedomain simulations. The results may be useful in applications in the new devices based on one-dimensional photonic or optical waveguide arrays.     

Nanophotonics of isolated spherical particles

The problem of extreme focusing of an optical beam into the spatial region with wavelength dimensions is considered with the use of the special features of radiation interaction with isolated spherical particles. Results of numerical computations of the optical field intensity at the surface of silver particles of different radii upon exposure to laser radiation with different wavelengths are presented. It is demonstrated that the relative intensity of the plasmon optical field on the nanoparticle surface increases and the field focusing region decreases with increasing particle radius. Results of numerical computations illustrating the influence of the shell of composite nanoparticles comprising a dielectric core and a metal shell on the optical field intensity in the vicinity of the particle are presented. The problem of local optical foci of a transparent microparticle (photonic nanojets) is investigated. It is established that variation of the micron particle size, its optical properties, and laser radiation parameters allows the amplitude and spatial characteristics of the photonic nanojet region to be controlled efficiently.     

Study on maximum band gap of two-dimensional photonic crystal with elliptical holes

In this paper, the maximum photonic band gap (PBG) of two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal (PC) with elliptical air holes was studied by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method based on changing the ratio (semi-major axis length of elliptical hole to the filling ratio) and azimuth angle of elliptical holes, respectively. It is shown that the PBG exhibits a peak value when the ratio of semi-major axis length to the filling ratio is equal to 0.86 approximately by increasing the filling ratio, and central frequency and the low boundary frequency of PBG decrease linearly with the increasing of semi-major axis length. In the aspect of the influence of azimuth angle from 0 to 90°, the PBG presents a minimum value, and central frequency and the low boundary frequency of PBG become high non-linearly by the increasing of azimuth angle to any filling ratio.     

Mode manipulation in system of coupled microcavities with whispering gallery modes

In recent years the studies of electromagnetic modes in solid spherical microcavities have been of great interest both for their potential applications and fundamental optical properties. A system of coherently coupled microcavities may be called a “photonic molecule” and can be employed in the tight-binding device in order to manipulate photons in micrometer length scale. In this work we demonstrate the possibility of mode manipulation in systems of symmetric photonic molecules formed by placing several high-Q micro-spheres in contact. We observe photonic nanojets that reflect the symmetry of the photonic molecule, with 3 jets located at 120 degrees with respect to each other for the triangular photonic molecule. A benzene molecule-like structure consisting of a 7-microspheres cyclic photonic molecule shows a field emission pattern similar to the spatial distribution of the orbitals of the benzene molecule. We also present some results showing the coexistence of whispering gallery modes and photonic nanojets in the same structure.     

Slow light phenomenon and extraordinary magnetooptical effects in periodic nanostructured media

Physical nature of the magnetooptical effects enhancement in periodic nanostructured media is investigated. The correlation between group velocity and the Faraday rotation peaks is found. The Faraday rotation gets its maximum values at vanishing group velocity. It is shown that in the vicinity of the photonic band gap the Faraday angle is inversely proportional to the group velocity and directly proportional to the magnetooptical parameter Q averaged along the period of the structure. At this the efficiency of light-magnetic-matter interaction increases significantly. Thus, the increase of the magnetooptical effects in magnetic periodic systems is related to the slow wave phenomenon.     

Experimental observation of nanojets formed by heating PbO-coated Pb clusters

We are reporting the first experimental observation of nanojets formed by heating PbO-coated Pb clusters, which has been predicted theoretically by Moseler and Landman. During heating, the hot liquid is ejected through the broken orifice into a vacuum and forms a condensed trail in the shape of a tadpole, as shown in the transmission electron micrographs. The temperature-variable Raman spectra indicate that nanojet formation is closely related to the heating temperature and thus essentially to the pressure in the coated clusters. The pressure inside the shell rises from the inner core's melting and its confined volume expansion. It then drops after the final explosion, dominating the whole nanojetting process.     

Creating attoliter detection volume by microsphere photonic nanojet and fluorescence depletion

In this paper, a novel method is presented for creating a 3-dimensinal sub-diffraction effective observation volume based on microsphere photonic nanojet and fluorescence depletion effect. Using microsphere to achieve photonic nanojet focusing effect, the proposed method applies the radially polarized plane wave to excite fluorescence and the azimuthally polarized beam to obtain fluorescence depletion field. The effective detection volume of photonic nanojet can reach 0.002 μm³ (2aL). Compared with conventional confocal microscopy, this effective detection volume represents a reduction of almost 2 orders of magnitude. With simple configuration based on cost-effective microspheres, the proposed method is theoretically proved to be a potential tool for the fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) to have large analysis range and to investigate single molecule at high concentrations.     

Multiband Terahertz Photonic Band Gaps of Subwavelength Planar Fractals

Optical transmission properties of subwavelength planar fractals in terahertz （THz） frequency regime are studied by means of time-domain spectroscopy. The transmission spectra with multiple pass bands and stop bands are observed. The tunable photonic band gaps are realized by changing the angle between the principle axis of planar fractal and the polarization of THz wave. The possible application of the subwavelength optical component is discussed. We attribute the detected transmittance from subwavelength fractals to localized resonances.     

FDTD法对二维正方格子光子晶体带隙的数值计算

通过optiFDTD模拟软件对二维椭圆柱构造的正方格子光子晶体的禁带特性进行了数值模拟。分别研究了在空气中椭圆介质(Ge,Si,GaAs)柱和在介质(Ge,Si,GaAs)中椭圆空气柱构造的二维正方格子光子晶体中椭圆柱的横轴半径和纵轴半径的大小,以及椭圆柱的不同旋转角度对光子禁带的影响;并计算出了在上述两种情况下的空气和介质中的最优结构参数。