What is it about?
When light illuminates a few micrometer-sized particles, the incident light can be focused on the shadow of the microparticles with a beam smaller in width and longer in length than the incoming light’s wavelength. This focusing light is known as “photonic nanojet (PNJ)”. This publication presents the PNJs created from dielectric micro-cylinders with different diameters (2 – 8 microns). A uniquely lithographic technique named “proton beam writing (PBW)” was utilized to make high-quality smooth sidewall micro-cylinders.
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Photo by Neenu Vimalkumar on Unsplash
Why is it important?
PNJs have provided a framework for optical resolution beyond the diffraction limit and offered various exciting applications. For example, the PNJ technology could be applied to optical super-resolution microscopy, highly-resolved and high-sensitivity spectroscopy, nanopatterning, and more. The PBW lithographic technique may serve as the appreciable method to create a rich variety of micrometer-sized particles for advancing functionalized PNJs.
Perspectives
It was an outstanding experience conducting experiments, computational simulation, and writing the manuscript for this publication with a fantastic and fascinating research collaboration team. It is also a great authors’ honor to publish our work in Applied Physics Letters, AIP publishing. The authors wish that the outcome of this work could impact and pave the way for sub-wavelength research fields.
Specially Appointed Associate Professor Nitipon Puttaraksa
Shibaura Institute of Technology
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Photonic nanojets generated by microfabricated dielectric cylinders using proton beam writing, Applied Physics Letters, October 2023, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/5.0169290.
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