Optical resonance and rainbow scattering of an electromagnetic Airy light-sheet by a dielectric sphere of arbitrary size

Abstract

The selection of the type of the structured beam is great importance in the study of optical and first-order rainbow scattering by a particle. The Airy light-sheet is a specific type of limited-diffracting beam (in 2D), which has been used in investigations related to radiation forces and torque. Equally important and of practical significance is the study of the electromagnetic/optical resonance and first-order rainbow scattering by a dielectric sphere. The purpose of this paper is to calculate the electromagnetic resonance scattering, energy efficiencies and far-field scattered intensity of a lossless homogeneous dielectric spherical particle of arbitrary size, illuminated by a linearly-polarized non-diffracting electromagnetic Airy light-sheet. A rigorous parametric study is undertaken here to investigate the effect of varying the light-sheet parameters γ, kw0, and its polarization state as well as the size parameter kaof the lossless dielectric sphere on the scattering efficiencies and intensity. The analysis is extended to examine the first-order rainbow scattering phenomenon in the context of Airy light-sheets with different polarizations. Numerical results show that kw0, γ, kaand the state of polarization affect the amplitude and scattering directivity patterns of the efficiencies and intensity. Rainbow scattering arises along the polar scattering angle θ=143°, and is minimally influenced by the different values of the parameters kw0, γ, polarization, and ka. The results are of some practical significance in optical resonance scattering and related applications in optical tweezers, super-resolution imaging, particle characterization, and the measurement of temperature, velocity and size of a liquid jet to name a few applications.

Keywords

• Airy light-sheet
• GLMT
• Resonance scattering
• Rainbow scattering
• Interference scattering
• Dielectric sphere