Near-Field Directionality Beyond the Dipole Approximation: Electric Quadrupole and Higher-Order Multipole Angular Spectra

Within the context of spin-related optical phenomena, the near-field directionality is generally understood from the quantum spin Hall effect of light, according to which the transverse spin of surface or guided modes is locked to the propagation direction. So far, most previous works have been focused on the spin properties of circularly polarized dipolar sources. However, in near-field optics, higher-order multipole sources (e.g., quadrupole, octupole, and so on) might become relevant, so a more in-depth formulation would be highly valuable. Building on the angular spectrum representation, we provide a general, analytical, and ready-to-use treatment in order to address the near-field directionality of any multipole field, particularizing to the electric quadrupole case. Besides underpinning and upgrading the current framework on spin-dependent directionality, our results may open up new perspectives for engineering light-matter coupling at the nanoscale.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Supplemental Material (19 pages). Supplemental tools (calculator of angular spectra and animation) available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.267790

Interferometric evanescent wave excitation of nano-antenna for ultra-sensitive displacement and phase metrology

We propose a method for ultra-sensitive displacement and phase metrology based on the interferometric evanescent wave excitation of nano-antennas. We show that with a proper choice of nano-antenna, tiny displacements or relative phase variations can be converted into sensitive scattering direction changes in the Fourier $k$-space. These changes stem from the strong position dependence of the imaginary Poynting vector orientation within interfering evanescent waves. Using strongly-evanescent standing waves, high sensitivity is achieved in the nano-antenna's zero scattering direction, which varies linearly with displacement over a long range. With weakly-evanescent wave interference, even higher sensitivity to tiny displacement or phase changes can be reached around chosen location. The high sensitivity of the proposed method can form the basis for many applications

Complex refraction metasurfaces for locally enhanced propagation through opaque media

Metasurfaces with linear phase gradients can redirect light beams. We propose controlling both phase and amplitude of a metasurface to extend Snell's law to the realm of complex angles, enabling a non-decaying transmission through opaque media with complex refractive indices. This leads to the discovery of non-diffracting and non-decaying solutions to the wave equation in opaque media, in the form of generalised cosine and Bessel-beams with a complex argument. While these solutions present nonphysical exponentially growing side tails, we address this via a windowing process, removing the side tails of the field profile while preserving significant transmission enhancement through an opaque slab on a small localized region. Such refined beam profiles may be synthesized by passive metasurfaces with phase and amplitude control at the opaque material's interface. Our findings, derived from rigorous solutions of the wave equation, promise new insights and enhanced control of light propagation in opaque media.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Avoiding metallic walls: Use of modal superposition in plasmonic waveguides to reduce propagation loss

We theoretically explore the possibility of reducing the propagation loss in a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide, using mode combinations to achieve wall-avoiding field distributions along a certain propagation length. We present analytical results for several waveguides showing notable loss reduction, and we discuss the tradeoffs between low loss and high confinement present in this technique