12,581 research outputs found

    Solid immersion lens applications for nanophotonic devices

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    Solid immersion lens (SIL) microscopy combines the advantages of conventional microscopy with those of near-field techniques, and is being increasingly adopted across a diverse range of technologies and applications. A comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art in this rapidly expanding subject is therefore increasingly relevant. Important benefits are enabled by SIL-focusing, including an improved lateral and axial spatial profiling resolution when a SIL is used in laser-scanning microscopy or excitation, and an improved collection efficiency when a SIL is used in a light-collection mode, for example in fluorescence micro-spectroscopy. These advantages arise from the increase in numerical aperture (NA) that is provided by a SIL. Other SIL-enhanced improvements, for example spherical-aberration-free sub-surface imaging, are a fundamental consequence of the aplanatic imaging condition that results from the spherical geometry of the SIL. Beginning with an introduction to the theory of SIL imaging, the unique properties of SILs are exposed to provide advantages in applications involving the interrogation of photonic and electronic nanostructures. Such applications range from the sub-surface examination of the complex three-dimensional microstructures fabricated in silicon integrated circuits, to quantum photoluminescence and transmission measurements in semiconductor quantum dot nanostructures

    Gradient metasurfaces: a review of fundamentals and applications

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    In the wake of intense research on metamaterials the two-dimensional analogue, known as metasurfaces, has attracted progressively increasing attention in recent years due to the ease of fabrication and smaller insertion losses, while enabling an unprecedented control over spatial distributions of transmitted and reflected optical fields. Metasurfaces represent optically thin planar arrays of resonant subwavelength elements that can be arranged in a strictly or quasi periodic fashion, or even in an aperiodic manner, depending on targeted optical wavefronts to be molded with their help. This paper reviews a broad subclass of metasurfaces, viz. gradient metasurfaces, which are devised to exhibit spatially varying optical responses resulting in spatially varying amplitudes, phases and polarizations of scattered fields. Starting with introducing the concept of gradient metasurfaces, we present classification of different metasurfaces from the viewpoint of their responses, differentiating electrical-dipole, geometric, reflective and Huygens' metasurfaces. The fundamental building blocks essential for the realization of metasurfaces are then discussed in order to elucidate the underlying physics of various physical realizations of both plasmonic and purely dielectric metasurfaces. We then overview the main applications of gradient metasurfaces, including waveplates, flat lenses, spiral phase plates, broadband absorbers, color printing, holograms, polarimeters and surface wave couplers. The review is terminated with a short section on recently developed nonlinear metasurfaces, followed by the outlook presenting our view on possible future developments and perspectives for future applications.Comment: Accepted for publication in Reports on Progress in Physic

    Three-dimensional super-resolution correlation-differential confocal microscopy with nanometer axial focusing accuracy

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    We present a correlation-differential confocal microscopy (CDCM), a novel method that can simultaneously improve the three-dimensional spatial resolution and axial focusing accuracy of confocal microscopy (CM). CDCM divides the CM imaging light path into two paths, where the detectors are before and after the focus with an equal axial offset in opposite directions. Then, the light intensity signals received from the two paths are processed by the correlation product and differential subtraction to improve the CM spatial resolution and axial focusing accuracy, respectively. Theoretical analyses and preliminary experiments indicate that, for the excitation wavelength of λ = 405 nm, numerical aperture of NA = 0.95, and the normalized axial offset of uM = 5.21, the CDCM resolution is improved by more than 20% and more than 30% in the lateral and axial directions, respectively, compared with that of the CM. Also, the axial focusing resolution important for the imaging of sample surface profiles is improved to 1 nm

    Deep-subwavelength features of photonic skyrmions in a confined electromagnetic field with orbital angular momentum

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    In magnetic materials, skyrmions are nanoscale regions where the orientation of electron spin changes in a vortex-type manner. Here we show that spin-orbit coupling in a focused vector beam results in a skyrmion-like photonic spin distribution of the excited waveguided fields. While diffraction limits the spatial size of intensity distributions, the direction of the field, defining photonic spin, is not subject to this limitation. We demonstrate that the skyrmion spin structure varies on the deep-subwavelength scales down to 1/60 of light wavelength, which corresponds to about 10 nanometre lengthscale. The application of photonic skyrmions may range from high-resolution imaging and precision metrology to quantum technologies and data storage where the spin structure of the field, not its intensity, can be applied to achieve deep-subwavelength optical patterns

    Polarization tailored novel vector beams based on conical refraction

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    Coherent vector beams with involved states of polarization (SOP) are widespread in the literature, having applications in laser processing, super-resolution imaging and particle trapping. We report novel vector beams obtained by transforming a Gaussian beam passing through a biaxial crystal, by means of the conical refraction phenomenon. We analyze both experimentally and theoretically the SOP of the different vector beams generated and demonstrate that the SOP of the input beam can be used to control both the shape and the SOP of the transformed beam. We also identify polarization singularities of such beams for the first time and demonstrate their control by the SOP of an input beam
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