Janus and Huygens' dipolar sources for near-field directionality

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Janus dipole, a new type of dipolar source that enables topologically protected near-field directionality, complementing Huygens' dipole and expanding the toolkit for directional emission and waveguiding in photonics.

Contribution

The paper presents the Janus dipole as a novel dipolar source with topologically protected near-field directionality, complementing existing Huygens' dipoles.

Findings

Janus dipole coupling to waveguided modes is topologically protected.

Near-field directionality of Huygens' dipole is characterized.

A generalized Kerker's condition for directionality is introduced.

Abstract

Controlling directionality of emission, scattering and waveguiding is an important requirement in quantum optical technology, integrated photonics and new metasurface designs, as well as radio and microwave engineering. Recently, several approaches have been developed to achieve unidirectional scattering in the far-field relying on Huygens' dipolar sources, and in waveguided optics based on spin-Hall effects involving circularly polarised electric or magnetic dipoles, all of which can be realised with plasmonic or dielectric nanoparticles. Here we show that there exists a dipolar source complimentary to Huygens' dipole, termed Janus dipole, which is not directional in the far-field, but its coupling to waveguided modes is topologically protected so that it is allowed on one side of the dipole but not on the opposite side. The near field directionality of the Huygens' dipole is also revealed and a generalised Kerker's condition for far- and near-field directionality is introduced. Circular electric and magnetic dipoles, together with Huygens' and Janus dipolar sources, form a complete set of directional dipolar sources in far- and near-field, paving the way for promising applications.