Generation of S-shaped photonic hooks from microcylinders with engineered surface patches

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel S-shaped photonic hook with two inflection points generated from microcylinders with engineered surface patches, expanding the capabilities of curved light beams for advanced optical applications.

Contribution

It reports the first experimental demonstration of S-shaped photonic hooks with multiple inflection points and shows how surface patches enhance their curvature and length.

Findings

S-shaped photonic hooks with two inflection points are theoretically demonstrated.

Surface patches on microcylinders significantly improve hook curvature and length.

Potential applications include super-resolution imaging and particle manipulation.

Abstract

Photonic hooks (PHs) are non-evanescent light beams with a highly concentrated curved optical fields. Since their discovery, PHs always have one single inflection point and thus have a hook-like structure. In this work, a new type of PHs with two inflection points and S-shaped structures (S-PHs) were reported for the first time. We theoretically studied the effects of various physical parameters on the generation of S-PHs. Furthermore, we showed that decorating particles with multiple patches can significantly enhance the curvature and length of the S-PHs. The S-PHs may have potential applications in super-resolution imaging, sub-wavelength micromachining, particle and cell manipulation, etc.