Polarization-sensitive photonic jet of a dielectric sphere excited by a zero-order Bessel beam

Abstract

Properties of photonic jets (PJs) generated by a micro-sized particle depend not only on the parameters of the particle, but also on the illumination conditions of the incident laser beam. To provide physical insights into the evolution of the PJs and reveal the role played by a Bessel beam with different polarizations, a systematical theoretical investigation is implemented on the PJs generated by a sphere excited by a zero-order Bessel beam in this paper. The effects of illumination conditions (polarization, half-cone angle, beam center location) on the PJs are analyzed using the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory (GLMT). Several fascinating properties of PJs, including cage-like PJ beam generated by the central lobe and the second ring of a Bessel beam, super enhancement of light confinement for a radially polarized Bessel beam, PJ beam with a hollow center for an azimuthal polarized Bessel beam, are revealed, which indicate promising potential applications in particle manipulation, super-resolution imaging and others.