Optical Phenomena in Mesoscale Dielectric Particles

Abstract

During the last decade, new unusual physical phenomena have been discovered in studying the optics of dielectric mesoscale particles of an arbitrary three-dimensional shape with the Mie size parameter near 10 (q~10). The paper provides a brief overview of these phenomena from optics to terahertz, plasmonic and acoustic ranges. The different particle configurations (isolated, regular or Janus) are discussed, and the possible applications of such mesoscale structures are briefly reviewed herein in relation to the field enhancement, nanoparticle manipulation and super-resolution imaging. The number of interesting applications indicates the appearance of a new promising scientific direction in optics, terahertz and acoustic ranges, and plasmonics. This paper presents the authors’ approach to these problems.

Optical Force on a Metal Nanorod Exerted by a Photonic Jet

“…The numerical results describe the direction and magnitude of the optical force, which makes it possible to directionally manipulate the nanorods. Note that the presented results will be valid not only for GLLs, but also for other particles [52] that form a photonic jet with similar characteristics. These results are expected to provide theoretically support for the manipulation of nanorods and the arrangement of nanoarrays.…”

Near-Field Light-Bending Photonic Switch: Physics of Switching Based on Three-Dimensional Poynting Vector Analysis

“…Therefore, it is noted that the difference of spatial location of Poynting vector vortexes crucially influence the bending direction of the generated photonic hook and vary the subsequent propagation routes for the lights (optical signals) with similar wavelengths. This effect can be only represented by 3D Poynting vector distributions [32] and cause multiple localised high-magnitude regions of Poynting vectors to constitute a complete single photonic hook.…”

Unraveling Dipolar Regime and Kerker Conditions in Mid‐Index Mesoscale Dielectric Materials

“…Recently, there is a growing interest in the study of optical phenomena at mesoscale regime with low refractive index (1< n <2) structures, termed as Mesotronics. [ 14 ] In these low‐index wavelength‐scaled dielectric particles, the electromagnetic fields are enhanced by the interference effects between the different field components generated in or/and near the particle. [ 14 ] Even though, the localized field is limited to the particle size of the order of d > λ, a number of interesting phenomena and applications have been observed in these low‐index dielectric particles.…”

“…[ 14 ] In these low‐index wavelength‐scaled dielectric particles, the electromagnetic fields are enhanced by the interference effects between the different field components generated in or/and near the particle. [ 14 ] Even though, the localized field is limited to the particle size of the order of d > λ, a number of interesting phenomena and applications have been observed in these low‐index dielectric particles. For example, strong molecule‐cavity coupling, [ 15 ] optical singularities that form two extreme hotspots near the particle poles, [ 16 ] higher order Fano resonances that provide giant magnetic field leading to super‐oscillation effects, [ 17,18 ] the whispering gallery mode effect overcoming the diffraction limit leading to super‐resolution imaging, [ 19 ] structured fields in the form of photonic hook and loops allowing new class of “on‐chip” optical traps for anisotropic nanoobjects, [ 20 ] etc., indicate promising new directions of research enabled by low‐index mesoscale dielectric particles.…”