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We propose an axisymmetric silicon nanoresonator with designed tapered angle well for the extraordinary enhancement of the decay rate of magnetic dipole (MD) emitters. Due to the resonant coupling of a MD emitter and the MD mode of the subwavelength resonator, the Purcell factor (PF) can easily reach 500, which is significantly higher than the PF when using a silicon nanosphere of the same size. The PF and the resonance frequency are conveniently tuned through the resonator diameter and the taper angle of the blind hole. When supported by a metallic substrate, further enhancement ($$>10^3$$ > 10 3 ) of the MD spontaneous emission is triggered by an image-induced quadrupolar high-Q mode of the nanoantenna. For the sake of comparison we include a critical analysis of the canonical problem that considers a Si spherical shell. Our results might facilitate a novel strategy for promising realizations of chip-scale nanophotonic applications.

Plasmonic substrates are widely reported for their use in the manipulation of sub-wavelength particles. Here we analyze the optical force in the terahertz (THz) spectrum acting on a dielectric nanoparticle when located close to a graphene monolayer. When lying on a dielectric planar substrate, the graphene sheet enables the nano-sized scatterer to excite a surface plasmon (SP) well confined on the dielectric surface. Under quite general conditions, large pulling forces can be exerted on the particle as a consequence of conservation of linear momentum and a self-action effect. Our results show that the pulling force intensity critically depends on the particle shape and orientation. The low heat dissipation of graphene SPs paves the way for the development of a novel plasmonic tweezer for applications involving biospecimen manipulation in the THz region.

The coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) techniques are recognized for their ability to detect and identify vibrational coherent processes down to the single-molecular levels. Plasmonic oligomers supporting full-range Fano-like line profiles in their scattering spectrum are one of the most promising class of substrates in the context of surface-enhanced (SE) CARS application. In this work, an engineered assembly of metallic disk-shaped nanoparticles providing two Fano-like resonance modes is presented as a highly-efficient design of SECARS substrate. We show that the scattering dips corresponding to the double-Fano spectral line shapes are originated from the mutual interaction of electric and toroidal dipole moments, leading to the so-called non-trivial first- and second-order anapole states. The anapole modes, especially the higher-order ones, can result in huge near-field enhancement due to their light-trapping capability into the so-called “hot spots”. In addition, independent spectral tunability of the second Fano line shape is exhibited by modulating the gap distance of the corner particles. This feature is closely related to the electric current loop associated with the corner particles in the second-order anapole state and provides a simple design procedure of an optimum SECARS substrate, where the electric field hot spots corresponding to three involved wavelengths, i.e., anti-Stokes, pump, and Stokes, are localized at the same spatial position. These findings yield valuable insight into the plasmonic substrate design for SECARS applications as well as for other nonlinear optical processes, such as four-wave mixing and multi-photon surface spectroscopy.

The ability to control the laser modes within a subwavelength resonator is of key relevance in modern optoelectronics. This work deals with the theoretical research on optical properties of a PT-symmetric nano-scaled dimer formed by two dielectric wires, one is with loss and the other with gain, wrapped with graphene sheets. We show the existence of two non-radiating trapped modes which transform into radiating modes by increasing the gain–loss parameter. Moreover, these modes reach the lasing condition for suitable values of this parameter, a fact that makes these modes achieve an ultra high quality factor that is manifested on the response of the structure when it is excited by a plane wave. Unlike other mechanisms that transform trapped modes into radiating modes, we show that the variation of gain–loss parameter in the balanced loss–gain structure here studied leads to a variation in the phase difference between induced dipole moments on each wires, without appreciable variation in the modulus of these dipole moments. We provide an approximated method that reproduces the main results provided by the rigorous calculation. Our theoretical findings reveal the possibility to develop unconventional optical devices and structures with enhanced functionality.

Manipulation of the exciton emission rate in nanocrystals of lead halide perovskites (LHPs) was demonstrated by means of coupling of excitons with a hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) consisting of alternating thin metal (Ag) and dielectric (LiF) layers. Such a coupling is found to induce an increase of the exciton radiative recombination rate by more than a factor of three due to the Purcell effect when the distance between the quantum emitter and HMM is nominally as small as 10 nm, which coincides well with the results of our theoretical analysis. Besides, an effect of the coupling-induced long wavelength shift of the exciton emission spectrum is detected and modeled. These results can be of interest for quantum information applications of single emitters on the basis of perovskite nanocrystals with high photon emission rates.

Manipulation of the exciton emission rate in nanocrystals of lead halide perovskites (LHPs) was demonstrated by means of coupling of excitons with a hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) consisting of alternating thin metal (Ag) and dielectric (LiF) layers. Such a coupling is found to induce an increase of the exciton radiative recombination rate by more than a factor of three due to the Purcell effect when the distance between the quantum emitter and HMM is nominally as small as 10 nm, which coincides well with the results of our theoretical analysis. Besides, an effect of the coupling-induced long wavelength shift of the exciton emission spectrum is detected and modeled. These results can be of interest for quantum information applications of single emitters on the basis of perovskite nanocrystals with high photon emission rates.

In this paper, the hybridized localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) of a periodic assembly of graphene-wrapped nanoparticles are used to design a nanoparticle assisted optical absorber. Bandwidth enhancement of this structure via providing multiple types of plasmonic resonances in the associated unit cell using two densely packed crossly stacked graphene strips is proposed. The designed graphene strips support fundamental propagating surface plasmons on the ribbons, and gap plasmons in the cavity constructed by the adjacent sections. Graphene strips exhibit a hyperbolic dispersion region in the operating spectrum and assist in the bandwidth enhancement. Moreover, since the nanoparticles are deposited on the top strips, real-time biasing of them can be easily conducted by exciting the surface plasmons of the strip without the necessity to electrically connect the adjacent nanoparticles. The overall dynamic bandwidth of the structure, using a two-state biasing scheme, covers the frequencies of 18.16–40.47 THz with 90% efficiency. Due to the symmetry of the structure, the device performs similarly for both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) waves and it has a high broadband absorption rate regarding different incident angles up to 40°. Due to the presence of 2D graphene material and also using hollow spherical particles, our proposed absorber is also lightweight and it is suitable for novel compact optoelectronic devices due to its sub-wavelength dimensions.

Epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials, including artificial metamaterials, have been advanced to mold laser beams and antenna-mediated radiated waves. Here we propose an efficient method to control Ohmic losses inherent to natural ENZ materials by the assembly of subwavelength structures in a nonperiodic matrix constituting an ENZ metacoating. Implemented over plano-concave transparent substrates whose radius can be of only a few wavelengths, ENZ surface-relief elements demonstrate to adequately shape a plane wave into highly localized fields. Furthermore, our proposal provides an energy efficiency even higher than an ideally-lossless all-ENZ plano-concave lens. Our procedure is satisfactory to generate aberration-free nonparaxial focused waves and accelerating beams in miniaturized spaces.

In this paper, a 3D sub-wavelength graphene-coated nano-disk dimer (GDD) is proposed for multi-frequency giant near-field enhancement. We observed that the dual-band operation originates from the excitation of hybridized localized surface plasmons on top and bottom faces of the disks along with the mutual coupling from the adjacent particle. Due to the sub-wavelength nature of the disks, the excited localized surface plasmons on the sidewalls are weak but they still can affect the dual operating bands. On the other hand, the strength and resonance frequency of the enhanced fields can be simply modulated by tuning the relative distances of 2D graphene disks on top and bottom faces. Adjustable dual-band performance is hardly attainable using simplified 2D graphene disks, however, it naturally comes out through modal hybridization in the subwavelength 3D structure containing multiple resonant units. Our suggested configuration has better optical properties than its noble metal counterparts because of its higher field enhancement and lower ohmic losses. Moreover, the electromagnetic response is reconfigurable by varying the bias voltage. The influence of graphene quality, chemical potential, and dimer gap size on the electric field enhancement and the resonance frequency of the surface plasmons are investigated, as well. To further improve its performance, a double negative metamaterial core is considered. This mechanism of the performance improvement by the core material is feasible thanks to the 3D nature of the structure. Two possible applications of the presented design are in Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) and optical absorbers.

We theoretically study the electromagnetic energy transfer between donor and acceptor molecules near a graphene waveguide (WG). The surface plasmons (SPs) supported by the structure provide decay channels which lead to an improvement in the energy transfer rate when the donor and acceptor are localized on the same side or even on opposite sides of the WG. The modification of the energy transfer rate compared to its value in absence of the WG are calculated by deforming the integration path into a suitable path in the complex plane. Our results show that this modification is dramatically enhanced when the symmetric and antisymmetric SPs are excited. Notable effects on the spatial dependence of the energy transfer due to the coherent interference between these SP channels, which can be tuned by chemical potential variations, are highlighted and discussed in terms of SP propagation characteristics. Fil: Olivo, Julieta Verónica. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Zapata Rodríguez, Carlos J.. Universidad de Valencia; España Fil: Cuevas, Mauro. Universidad de Belgrano; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

The title “Dyakonov surface waves: anisotropy enabling confinement on the edge” plainly sets the scope for this chapter. The focus here is on the formation of bounded waves at the interface of two distinct media, at least one of them exhibiting optical anisotropy, which are coined as Dyakonov surface waves (DSWs) in recognition to the physicist who reported their existence for the first time. First, the general aspects of the topic are discussed. It also treats the characterization of bounded waves in isotropic-uniaxial multilayered structures, allowing not only the derivation of the dispersion equation of DSWs but also that of surface plasmons polaritons (SPPs), for instance. Furthermore, the interaction of such surfaces waves, with the possibility of including guided waves in a given planar layer and external sources mimicking experimental setups, can be accounted for by using the transfer matrix formalism introduced here. Finally, special attention is devoted to hyperbolic media with indefinite anisotropy-enabling hybridized scenarios integrating the prototypical DSWs and SPPs. This chapter was supported by the Qatar National Research Fund (Grant No. NPRP 8-028-1-001) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grants No. TEC2014-53727-C2-1-R and TEC2017-86102-C2-1R).

We propose a simple yet efficient method for generating in-plane hollow beams with a nearly full circular light shell without the contribution of backward propagating waves. The method relies on modulating the phase in the near field of a centrosymmetric optical wave front, such as that from a high-numerical-aperture focused wave field. We illustrate how beam acceleration may be carried out by using an ultranarrow non-flat meta-surface formed by engineered plasmonic nanoslits. A mirror-symmetric, with respect to the optical axis, circular caustic surface is numerically demonstrated that can be used as an optical bottle. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the Project TEC2013-50416-EXP. M. Naserpour acknowledges financial support from the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran.

We investigate, both theoretically and numerically, a graphene-coated nano-cylinder illuminated by a plane electromagnetic wave in the far-infrared range of frequencies. We have derived an analytical formula that enables fast evaluation of the spectral window with a substantial reduction in scattering efficiency for a sufficiently thin cylinder. This polarization-dependent effect leads to tunable resonant invisibility that can be achieved via modification of graphene chemical potential monitored by the gate voltage. A multi-frequency cloaking mechanism based on dimer coated nanowires is also discussed in detail.

The evaluation of vector wave fields can be accurately performed by means of diffraction integrals, differential equations and also series expansions. In this paper, a Bessel series expansion which basis relies on the exact solution of the Helmholtz equation in cylindrical coordinates is theoretically developed for the straightforward yet accurate description of low-numerical-aperture focal waves. The validity of this approach is confirmed by explicit application to Gaussian beams and apertured focused fields in the paraxial regime. Finally we discuss how our procedure can be favorably implemented in scattering problems.

To focus the incident light, both convex metalenses with hyperbolic phase profile and autofocused Airy (AFA) beams are widely used. To obtain AFA-based bifocal metalenses, we propose two methods in this article. One is to bring the two conjugate focal points of an AFA beam into the real space by applying a proper convex lens phase profile. The other is to use the inefficient central space between the two launched Airy beams with zero amplitude and constant phase profile as an independent metalens. We also show that combining the two introduced methods, leads the design to upgrade to a multifocal structure.

In this paper, we explored the scattering behavior of thin cylinders made of a left-handed material (LHM) and coated by a monoatomic graphene layer. A spectral tunability of the resonance peaks is evidenced by altering the chemical potential of the graphene coating, a fact that occurs at any state of polarization of the incident plane wave in opposition to the case of scatterers of dielectric core. On the contrary, no invisibility condition can be satisfied for dielectric environments. A singular performance is also found for cylinders with permittivity and permeability near zero. Practical implementations of our results can be carried out in sensing and wave manipulation driven by metamaterials.

Engineered core-shell cylinders are good candidates for applications in invisibility and cloaking.In particular, hyperbolic nanotubes demonstrate tunable ultra-low scattering cross section in the visible spectral range. In this work we investigate the limits of validity of the condition for invisibility, which was shown to rely on reaching an epsilon near zero in one of the components of the effective permittivity tensor of the anisotropic metamaterial cavity. For incident light polarized perpendicularly to the scatterer axis, critical deviations are found in low-birefringent arrangements and also with high-index cores. We demonstrate that the ability of anisotropic metallodielectric nanocavities to dramatically reduce the scattered light is associated with a multiple Fano-resonance phenomenon. We extensively explore such resonant effect to identify tunable windows of invisibility.

Though the online PDF and the print versions are correct, the web page of this paper unfortunately contained a mistake. The first author surname should read Diaz-Avino.

Invisibility of nanotubes has recently been demonstrated in highly anisotropic metamaterials in the transition regime from hyperbolic to elliptic dispersion [Sci. Rep. 5 (2015) 16027]. In such study, the characterization of a realistic multilayered metamaterial was carried out by means of an effective medium approach providing average components of the permittivity tensor and wave fields. Here, the edge effects of the metal-dielectric stratified nanotube for different combinations were thoroughly analyzed. We show how the boundary layers, which in principle remain fully irrelevant in the estimation of the effective permittivity of the nanotube, however play a critical role in the scattering spectra and the near field patterns. A dramatic enhancement of the scattered wave field is unexpectedly experienced at the frequencies of interest when a dielectric layer is chosen to be in contact with the cavity core.

We analyze the existence of localized waves in the vicinities of the interface between two dielectrics, provided one of them is uniaxial and lossy. We found two families of surface waves, one of them approaching the well-known Dyakonov surface waves (DSWs). In addition, a new family of wave fields exists which are tightly bound to the interface. Although its appearance is clearly associated with the dissipative character of the anisotropic material, the characteristic propagation length of such surface waves might surpass the working wavelength by nearly two orders of magnitude. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the Project TEC2013-50416-EXP.

We propose a new class of one-dimensional (1D) photonic waveguides: the fractal photonic crystal waveguides (FPCWs). These structures are photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs) etched with fratal distribution of grooves such as Cantor bars. The transmission properties of the FPCWs are investigated and compared with those of the conventional 1D PCWs. It is shown that the FPCW transmission spectrum has self-similarity properties associated with the fractal distribution of grooves. Furthermore, FPCWs exhibit sharp localized transmissions peaks that are approximately equidistant inside the photonic band gap.

We present a formulation for a suitable description of the focal shift in optical waves that have an off-axis focus. This shift that is primarily produced along the chief axis is given in terms of the focal distance and depends only on a parameter that is named as the generalized Fresnel number. Any non-uniform, either truncated and non-apertured optical beam with off-axis focus may be considered.

The volume size of a converging wave, which plays a relevant role in image resolution, is governed by the wavelength of the radiation and the numerical aperture (NA) of the wavefront. We designed an ultrathin (λ/8 width) curved metasurface that is able to transform a focused field into a high-NA optical architecture, thus boosting the transverse and (mainly) on-axis resolution. The elements of the metasurface are metal-insulator subwavelength gratings exhibiting extreme anisotropy with ultrahigh index of refraction for TM polarization. Our results can be applied to nanolithography and optical microscopy. Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MEC) (TEC2013-50416-EXP).

High-index silicon nanoblocks support excitation of both electric and magnetic resonance modes at telecommunication wavelengths. At frequencies where both electric and magnetic resonance modes are excited simultaneously, changing the geometrical dimensions of the silicon cubes creates a 2π full span over the phase of the transmitted light in different amplitude ranges. We take advantage of the additional power-flux modulation of the scattered signal to focus the incident light with desired full width at half maximum (FWHM) and side lobe levels (SLLs) in both the lateral and axial directions. By implementing proper amplitude filters within the telecommunication working wavelength (1.55 μm), a FWHM less than half of the wavelength (0.42λeff) and apodization with nearly faded SLLs are achievable. Our approach introduced in this paper provides a new way to design high efficiency metalenses with desired FWHM and SLL of focal spot.

Spatially accelerating beams that are solutions to Maxwell equations may propagate along incomplete circular trajectories. Taking these truncated Bessel fields to the paraxial limit, some authors have sustained that it has recovered the known Airy beams (AiBs). Based on the angular spectrum representation of optical fields, we demonstrated that the paraxial approximation rigorously leads to off-axis focused beams instead of finite-energy AiBs. The latter will arise under the umbrella of a nonparaxial approach following elliptical trajectories in place of parabolas. The analytical expression of such a shape-preserving wave field under Gaussian apodization is disclosed by using third-order nonparaxial coefficients. Deviations from full-wave simulations appear more severely in beam positioning rather than its local profile.

We have analyzed surface-wave propagation that takes place at the boundary between an isotropic medium and a semi-infinite metal-dielectric periodic medium cut normally to the layers. In the range of frequencies where the periodic medium shows hyperbolic space dispersion, hybridization of surface waves (dyakonons) occurs. At low to moderate frequencies, dyakonons enable tighter confinement near the interface in comparison with pure SPPs. On the other hand, a distinct regime governs dispersion of dyakonons at higher frequencies. Full Text: PDF References Z. Ruan, M. Qiu, "Slow electromagnetic wave guided in subwavelength region along one-dimensional periodically structured metal surface", Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 201906 (2007). CrossRef A. Yariv, P. Yeh,"Electromagnetic propagation in periodic stratified media. II. Birefringence, phase matching, and x-ray lasers", J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67, 438 (1977). CrossRef D.R. Smith, D. Schurig, "Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in Media with Indefinite Permittivity and Permeability Tensors", Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 077405 (2003). CrossRef I.I. Smolyaninov, E. Hwang, E. Narimanov, "Hyperbolic metamaterial interfaces: Hawking radiation from Rindler horizons and spacetime signature transitions", Phys. Rev. B 85, 235122 (2012). CrossRef Z. Jacob, E.E. Narimanov, "Optical hyperspace for plasmons: Dyakonov states in metamaterials", Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 221109 (2008). CrossRef M.I. D'yakonov, "New type of electromagnetic wave propagating at an interface", Sov. Phys. JETP 67, 714 (1988). DirectLink I.I. Smolyaninov, Y.J. Hung, C.C. Davis, "Magnifying Superlens in the Visible Frequency Range", Science 315, 1699 (2007). CrossRef J. Elser, V.A. Podolskiy, I. Salakhutdinov, I. Avrutsky, "Nonlocal effects in effective-medium response of nanolayered metamaterials", Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 191109 (2007). CrossRef E. Popov, S. Enoch, "Mystery of the double limit in homogenization of finitely or perfectly conducting periodic structures", Opt. Lett. 32, 3441 (2007). CrossRef B. Wood, J.B. Pendry, D.P. Tsai, "Directed subwavelength imaging using a layered metal-dielectric system", Phys. Rev. B 74, 115116 (2006). CrossRef

We design plano–concave silicon lenses with coupled gradient-index plasmonic metacoatings for ultrawide apertured focusing utilizing a reduced region of ∼20λ2. The anomalous refraction induced in the planar input side of the lens and in the boundary of the wavelength-scale focal region boosts the curvature of the emerging wavefront, thus significantly enhancing the resolution of the tightly focused optical wave. The formation of a light tongue with dimensions approaching those of the concave opening is here evidenced. This scheme is expected to have potential applications in optical trapping and detection.

An optimization for multilayered nanotubes that minimizes the scattering efficiency for a given polarization is derived. The cylindrical nanocavities have a radially periodic distribution, and the marginal layers that play a crucial role particularly in the presence of nonlocalities are disposed to reduce the scattering efficiency up to two orders of magnitude in comparison with previous proposals. The predominant causes leading to such invisibility effect are critically discussed. A transfer-matrix formalism is additionally developed for the fast estimation of the scattering efficiency of the nanostructures.

We reexamine the Gouy phase in ballistic Airy beams (AiBs). A physical interpretation of our analysis is derived in terms of the local phase velocity and the Poynting vector streamlines. Recent experiments employing AiBs are consistent with our results. We provide an approach which potentially applies to any finite-energy paraxial wave field that lacks a beam axis. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the project TEC2009-11635.

We investigate the existence and dispersion characteristics of surface waves that propagate at an interface between a metal–dielectric superlattice and an isotropic dielectric. Within the long-wavelength limit, when the effective-medium (EM) approximation is valid, the superlattice behaves like a uniaxial plasmonic crystal with the main optical axes perpendicular to the metal–dielectric interfaces. We demonstrate that if such a semi-infinite plasmonic crystal is cut normally to the layer interfaces and brought into contact with a semi-infinite dielectric, a new type of surface mode can appear. Such modes can propagate obliquely to the optical axes if favorable conditions regarding the thickness of the layers and the dielectric permittivities of the constituent materials are met. We show that losses within the metallic layers can be substantially reduced by making the layers sufficiently thin. At the same time, a dramatic enlargement of the range of angles for oblique propagation of the new surface modes is observed. This can lead, however, to field non-locality and consequently to failure of the EM approximation. This work was supported by the Qatar National Research Fund (NPRP 09-462-1-074). SMV and ZJ acknowledge support from the Serbian Ministry of Education and Science through projects III 45016 and TR 32008. CJZ-R and JJM acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through grant no. TEC2009-11635.

We report on a procedure to improve the resolution of far-field imaging by using a neighboring high-index medium that is coated with a left-handed metamaterial. The resulting plot can also exhibit an enhanced transmission by considering proper conditions to retract backscattering. Based on negative refraction, geometrical aberrations are considered in detail since they may cause a great impact in this sort of diffraction-unlimited imaging by reducing its resolution power. We employ a standard aberration analysis to refine the asymmetric configuration of metamaterial superlenses. We demonstrate that low-order centrosymmetric aberrations can be fully corrected for a given object plane. For subwavelength-resolution imaging, however, high-order aberrations become of relevance, which may be balanced with defocus. Not only the point spread function but also numerical simulations based on the finite-element method support our theoretical analysis, and subwavelength resolution is verified in the image plane. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the project TEC2009-11635.

We show that subwavelength diffracted wave fields may be managed inside multilayered plasmonic devices to achieve ultra-resolving lensing. For that purpose we first transform both homogeneous waves and a broad band of evanescent waves into propagating Bloch modes by means of a metal/dielectric (MD) superlattice. Beam spreading is subsequently compensated by means of negative refraction in a plasmon-induced anisotropic effective-medium that is cemented behind. A precise design of the superlens doublet may lead to nearly aberration-free images with subwavelength resolution in spite of using optical paths longer than a wavelength. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the project TEC2009-11635.

During the last decade it has been practicable to achieve a full control of the temporal evolution of the wave field of ultrashort mode-locked laser beams (1). Advances in femtosecond laser technology and nonlinear optics have made possible to tailor the phase and magnitude of the electric field leading to a wide range of new applications in science. Many physical phenomena are dependent directly on the electric field rather than the pulse envelope such as electron emission from ionized atoms (2) and metal surfaces (3), or carrier-wave Rabi-flopping (4). Moreover, attosecond physics is for all practical purposes accessible by using femtosecond pulses with controlled carrier-envelope (CE) phase conducting to coherent light generation in the XUV spectral regions (5). Additional applications in the frequency domain includes optical metrology where the laser spectrum is employed (6). In this chapter we apply fundamental concepts of three-dimensional wave packets to illustrate not only transverse but what is more fascinating on-axis effects on the propagation of few-cycle laser pulses (7). The frequency-dependent nature of diffraction behaves as a sort of dispersion that makes changes in the pulse front surface, its group velocity, the envelope form, and the carrier frequency. The procedure lays on pulsedGaussian beams, in which these changes are straightforwardly quantified. In particular, the carrier phase at any point of space near the beam axis is evaluated. Anomalous pulse front behavior including superluminality in pulsed Gaussian beams is also found. Finally the CE phase is computed in the focal volume and in the far field. Generally focused pulses manifest a strong phase dispersion in the neighborhood of the geometrical focus, so that enhanced spatial resolution is achieved in CE phase-dependent phenomena. In some circumstances, however, increased depth of focusmay be of convenience so that a stationary CE phase should be required in the near field. It is noteworthy that Gouy wave modes (8) show some control over on-axis phases demonstrating undistorted pulse focalization even in dispersive media. Practical realizations may be driven by angular dispersion engineering of ultrashort laser beams. In this concern we introduced the concept of dispersive imaging (9) as a tool for controlling the dispersive nature of broadbandwave fields. Achromatic (10) and apochromatic (11) corrections of the angular spectrum of diffracted wave fields may be achieved with the use of highly-dispersive lenses such as kinoform-type zone plates. This procedure has been employed previously to compensate the longitudinal 8

We report on the existence of nondiffracting Bessel surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), advancing at either superluminal or subluminal phase velocities. These wave fields feature deep subwavelength FWHM, but are supported by high-order homogeneous SPPs of a metal/dielectric (MD) superlattice. The beam axis can be relocated to any MD interface, by interfering multiple converging SPPs with controlled phase matching. Dissipative effects in metals lead to a diffraction-free regime that is limited by the energy attenuation length. However, the ultra-localization of the diffracted wave field might still be maintained by more than one order of magnitude. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under the project TEC2009-11635, and by the Qatar National Research Fund under the project NPRP 09-462-1-074. S.V. and M.R.B. wish to acknowledge the support for this work provided by Serbian Ministry of Education and Science through grant No. III 45016.

The propagation and transmission of Bessel beams through nano-layered structures has been discussed recently. Within this framework we recognize the formation of unguided diffraction-free waves with the spot size approaching and occasionally surpassing the limit of a wavelength when a Bessel beam of any order n is launched onto a thin material slab with grazing incidence. On the basis of the plane-wave representation of cylindrical waves, a simple model is introduced providing an exact description of the transverse pattern of this type of diffraction-suppressed localized wave. Potential applications in surface science are put forward for consideration. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICIIN) under the project TEC2009-11635.

We report on a procedure to focalize few-cycle laser pulses in dispersive media with controlled waveform. Stationarity of the carrier-envelope phase for extended depth of focus is attained by shaping the spatial dispersion of the ultrashort beam. An adjustable group velocity is locally tuned in order to match a prescribed phase velocity at focus. A hybrid diffractive-refractive lens system is proposed to drive the wavefield to an immersion microscope objective under convenient broadband modulation. Numerical simulations demonstrate robustness over positioning of this dispersive beam expander.

A new class of superresolution pairs of pupil filters for three-dimensional, two-pupil confocal imaging is proposed. A distinctive feature of these filters is the asymmetry of their impulse response. For synthesizing the amplitude transmittance of such filters the Fourier transform properties of Hermitian functions are employed. It is shown that, with simple phase-only filters that belong to the class in question, either axial or unidirectional lateral superresolution is achieved.

A flexible array illuminator, comprising only two conventional optical elements, with a variable density of bright white-light spots is presented. The key to our method is to obtain with a single diffractive lens an achromatic version of different fractional Talbot images, produced by free-space propagation, of the amplitude distribution at the back focal plane of a periodic refractive microlens array under a broadband point-source illumination. Some experimental results of our optical procedure are also shown.

We investigate the ultraslow motion of polychromatic Bessel beams in unbounded, nondispersive media. Control over the group velocity is exercised by means of the angular dispersion of pulsed Bessel beams of invariant transverse spatial frequency, which spontaneously emerge from near-field generators. Temporal dynamics in transients and resonances over homogeneous delay lines (dielectric slabs) are also examined.

We report on a matrix-based diffraction integral that evaluates the focal field of any diffraction-limited axisymmetric complex system. This diffraction formula is a generalization of the Debye integral applied to apertured focused beams, which may be accommodated to broadband problems. Longitudinal chromatic aberration may limit the convenience of the Debye formulation and, additionally, spatial boundaries of validity around the focal point are provided. Fresnel number is reformulated in order to guarantee that the focal region is entirely into the region of validity of the Debye approximation when the Fresnel number of the focusing geometry largely exceeds unity. We have applied the matrix-based Debye integral to several examples. Concretely, we present an optical system for beam focusing with strong angular dispersion and free of longitudinal chromatic aberration. This simple formalism leaves an open door for analysis and design of focused beams with arbitrary angular dispersion. Our results are valid for ultrashort pulsed and polychromatic incoherent sources.

Recent progress is emerging on nondiffracting subwavelength fields propagating in complex plasmonic nanostructures. In this paper, we present a thorough discussion on diffraction-free localized solutions of Maxwell’s equations in a periodic structure composed of nanowires. This self-focusing mechanism differs from others previously reported, which lie on regimes with ultraflat spatial dispersion. By means of the Maxwell–Garnett model, we provide a general analytical expression of the electromagnetic fields that can propagate along the direction of the cylinder’s axis, keeping its transverse waveform unaltered. Numerical simulations based on the finite element method support our analytical approach. In particular, moderate filling fractions of the metallic composite lead to nonresonant-plasmonic spots of light propagating with a size that remains far below the limit of diffraction. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the project TEC2011-29120-C05-01.

We analyzed surface-wave propagation that takes place at the boundary between a semi-infinite dielectric and a multilayered metamaterial, the latter with indefinite permittivity and cut normally to the layers. Known hyperbolization of the dispersion curve is discussed within distinct spectral regimes, including the role of the surrounding material. Hybridization of surface waves enable tighter confinement near the interface in comparison with pure-TM surface-plasmon polaritons. We demonstrate that the effective-medium approach deviates severely in practical implementations. By using the finite-element method, we predict the existence of long-range oblique surface waves. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the project TEC2011-29120-C05-01, by the Serbian Ministry of Education and Science under the project III 45016, and by the Qatar National Research Fund under the project NPRP 09-462-1-074. CJZR gratefully acknowledges a financial support from the Generalitat Valenciana (grant BEST/2012/060).

We investigated surface waves guided by the boundary of a semi-infinite layered metal-dielectric nanostructure cut normally to the layers and a semi-infinite dielectric material. Using the Floquet-Bloch formalism, we found that Dyakonov-like surface waves with hybrid polarization can propagate in dramatically enhanced angular range compared to conventional birefringent materials. Our numerical simulations for an Ag-GaAs stack in contact with glass show a low to moderate influence of losses. This research was funded by the Qatar National Research Fund under the project NPRP 09-462-1-074, by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the project TEC2009-11635, and by the Serbian Ministry of Education and Science under the projects III 45016 and TR 32008.

Ultrafast diffraction results in spatiotemporal un-coupling of the wave field, inducing spectral anomalies and pulse stretching. Localized compensation may be achieved via angular dispersion driven by diffractive optical elements (DOEs). We report on an DOEs-based beam shaper of ultrashort optical pulses with high spatiotemporal resolution. Inspection of the validity of our approach is performed in the single-cycle regime.

We propose to use the blind deconvolution and its modification to extract the point spread function (PSF) of layered metamaterials from a SNOM measurement. The measurement results are processed using the blind deconvolution algorithm to reconstruct the real-valued non-coherent PSF, or using the modified blind deconvolution introduced in this paper to reconstruct the complex-valued coherent PSF. The two algorithms are tested in simulations with a layered metamaterial deposited on a thin metallic mask with test apertures. We show that the modified algorithm is capable of recovering the approximate shape of complex PSF with a sub-wavelength full width at half maximum from a measurement in which the apertures are larger than the wavelength.