Scattering of singular beams by subwavelength objects.

In recent years, there has been a mounting interest in better methods of measuring nanoscale objects, especially in fields such as nanotechnology, biomedicine, cleantech, and microelectronics. Conventional methods have proved insufficient, due to the classical diffraction limit or slow and complicated measuring procedures. The purpose of this paper is to explore the special characteristics of singular beams with respect to the investigation of subwavelength objects. Singular beams are light beams that contain one or more singularities in their physical parameters, such as phase or polarization. We focus on the three-dimensional interaction between electromagnetic waves and subwavelength objects to extract information about the object from the scattered light patterns.

Material classification of nanoparticles by focused beam scattering.

Advanced science and technology frequently encounters the need to detect particles in the micrometer and nanometer range of a given composition. While the scattering process of light by small particles is well documented, most conventional analytic methods employ wide illumination of large ensembles of particles. With such an approach, no information can be obtained about single particles due to their weak interaction. In this paper, we show that single particles can be classified with respect to their material composition by analyzing the scattering pattern of a focused Gaussian beam.