Full vectorial imaging of electromagnetic light at subwavelength scale

Grosjean, Thierry; Ibrahim, Idriss Abdoulkader; Suárez, Miguel Ángel; Burr, Geoffrey W.; Mivelle, Mathieu; Charraut, D.

doi:10.1364/oe.18.005809

Cited by 36 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…This concept was nicely demonstrated in 2010, where measurements of the in-plane electric field with a dielectric probe were used as a boundary condition for finite-difference time-domain calculations to reconstruct all of the magnetic field components 88 .…”

Section: Simultaneous Measurements Of E and Hmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping nanoscale light fields

2014

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N ear-field microscopy is a powerful tool that allows the study of the complex electromagnetic fields that surround nanophotonic structures. As our control over the feature size of these structures becomes ever finer, the ability to image their near fields becomes ever more crucial. This is because, at the nanoscale, light-matter interactions are intimately linked to an object's geometry and not just to the optical properties of its constituent materials. Consequently, near-field mappings are often the only route to understanding the underlying physical processes of exciting phenomena such as extraordinary optical transmission 1,2 , light propagation through photonic crystal waveguides 3,4 , and the optical response of nanoantennas 5,6 . Likewise, when accurate knowledge of the details of nanoscopic light fields is crucial to the performance of a device, near-field imaging becomes essential. Examples of such situations include the creation of hotspots for nonlinear nanophotonics 7 or sensing applications 8 , the way in which nanophotonic structures direct light flow 9 , or the generation of structured fields for nanomanipulation 10,11 . In all, there are a host of fields that stand to gain from the information available from near-field microscopy.In this Review we discuss recent progress towards a complete mapping of light fields at the nanoscale, suggesting new scientific avenues that are opened by these advances. We begin by briefly reviewing the basics of subwavelength field mapping. We then outline recent progress in the mapping of electric near-field vector components, and progress to mapping that goes beyond the vector nature, such as time-or frequency-resolved measurements. We then address recent progress towards the mapping of magnetic near fields, and in particular towards the ability to simultaneously map the entire electromagnetic near field. Throughout the entire Review, we highlight exciting nanophotonic systems whose near fields can be accessed because of progress in this field. Lastly, we end with a brief outlook on the remaining challenges in the pursuit of a complete nanoscale near-field mapping. Basics of subwavelength field mappingNear fields (Box 1) are intrinsically hard to image directly, as they cannot be viewed by, for example, a CCD array or photodiode. This is because near fields are evanescent in nature and hence, for visible or near-infrared light, these fields are typically found within 10s or 100s of nanometres of a surface. Consequently, an intermediate step is required, whereby some of the near field is converted to far field. This conversion may be achieved in several ways. For example, information about the nanoscopic fields may be accessed by incorporating emitters such as dye molecules into a nanophotonic structure and studying the resultant fluorescence 12 , or by using photoresist which polymerizes at high intensities and henceThe control of light fields on subwavelength scales in nanophotonic structures has become ubiquitous, driven by both curiosity and a multitude of appli...

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Section: Simultaneous Measurements Of E and Hmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping nanoscale light fields

2014

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“…From (44) it follows that beam appears linearly polarized along the y-axis when frontally observed on the xy-plane. For comparison, see [31,50]. orthogonal at all points on the xy-plane, irrespective of the propagation distance z.…”

Section: Propagation Invariant Fieldsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ubiquitous photonic wheel

Aiello

Banzer

2016

J. Opt.

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A circularly polarized electromagnetic plane wave carries an electric field that rotates clockwise or counterclockwise around the propagation direction of the wave. According to the handedness of this rotation, its longitudinal spin angular momentum density is either parallel or antiparallel to the propagation of light. However, there are also light waves that are not simply plane and carry an electric field that rotates around an axis perpendicular to the propagation direction, thus yielding transverse spin angular momentum density. Electric field configurations of this kind have been suggestively dubbed "photonic wheels". It has been recently shown that photonic wheels are commonplace in optics as they occur in electromagnetic fields confined by waveguides, in strongly focused beams, in plasmonic and evanescent waves. In this work we establish a general theory of electromagnetic waves propagating along a well defined direction, which carry transverse spin angular momentum density. We show that depending on the shape of these waves, the spin density may be either perpendicular to the mean linear momentum (globally transverse spin) or to the linear momentum density (locally transverse spin). We find that the latter case generically occurs only for non-diffracting beams, such as the Bessel beams. Moreover, we introduce the concept of meridional Stokes parameters to operationally quantify the transverse spin density. To illustrate our theory, we apply it to the exemplary cases of Bessel beams and evanescent waves. These results open a new and accessible route to the understanding, generation and manipulation of optical beams with transverse spin angular momentum density. arXiv:1607.00792v1 [physics.optics]

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“…For such tightly focused and highly confined light beams, several beam reconstruction techniques have been proposed and discussed in literature. Some of these methods even allow for the measurement of amplitudes and phases of individual electric field components in diffraction-limited focal spots [5][6][7][8]. Another technique, which is normally used to determine the electric field intensity distribution in the cross-section of light beams experimentally, is the so-called knife-edge method which we want to discuss here in more detail [9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of the substrate material on the knife-edge based profiling of tightly focused light beams

Huber¹,

Orlov²,

Banzer³

et al. 2016

Opt. Express

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Abstract:The performance of the knife-edge method as a beam profiling technique for tightly focused light beams depends on several parameters, such as the material and height of the knife-pad as well as the polarization and wavelength of the focused light beam under study. Here we demonstrate that the choice of the substrate the knife-pads are fabricated on has a crucial influence on the reconstructed beam projections as well. We employ an analytical model for the interaction of the knife-pad with the beam and report good agreement between our numerical and experimental results. Moreover, we simplify the analytical model and demonstrate, in which way the underlying physical effects lead to the apparent polarization dependent beam shifts and changes of the beamwidth for different substrate materials and heights of the knife-pad.

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Full vectorial imaging of electromagnetic light at subwavelength scale

Cited by 36 publications

References 51 publications

Mapping nanoscale light fields

Mapping nanoscale light fields

The ubiquitous photonic wheel

Influence of the substrate material on the knife-edge based profiling of tightly focused light beams

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