title: Engineering photonic nanojets.
abstract: Photonic Nanojets are highly localized wave fields emerging directly behind dielectric microspheres; if suitably illuminated. In this contribution we reveal how different illumination conditions can be used to engineer the photonic Nanojets by measuring them in amplitude and phase with a high resolution interference microscope. We investigate how the wavelength, the amplitude distribution of the illumination, its polarization, or a break in symmetry of the axial-symmetric structure and the illumination affect the position, the localization and the shape of the photonic Nanojets. Various fascinating properties are systematically revealed and their implications for possible applications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Optics & Photonics Technology Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Neuchâtel CH-2000, Switzerland. myunsik.kim@epfl.ch
authors.forename: Myun-Sik
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Toralf
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Scharf
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mühlig
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rockstuhl
authors.forename: Hans Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Herzig
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization; D004738:Engineering; D004867:Equipment Design; D006696:Holography / Q000379:methods; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007834:Lasers; D008027:Light; D008422:Materials Testing; D008857:Microscopy, Interference / Q000379:methods*; D016011:Normal Distribution; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000379:methods*; D017785:Photons