The diffraction of light from a right-angled, lossless dielectric step, illuminated by a plane wave, forms a tilted focused beam. Its deviation angle depends on the index ratio between the structure material and host medium. This paper will demonstrate the existence of a critical height of a wavelength sized edge. This edge diffracts the incident light energy inside the higher index medium, as a specific field distribution. The analysis, done for optical frequencies, identifies lobes in the resulting field distribution. The lobes repartition is driven by a critical height and its multiples. These EM patterns are evaluated in relation with the photonic nanojet phenomenon.
“Influence of an edge height on the diffracted EM field distribution“, Bobin Varghese, Oksana Shramkova, Valter Drazic, Valérie Allié, Laurent Blondé*, International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks, 9-13 July 2019, Angers, France.