Analysis of focal-shift effect in planar metallic nanoslit lenses

A theoretical analysis based on scalar diffraction theory about the recently reported focal-shift phenomena in planar metallic nanoslit lenses is presented. Under Fresnel approximation, an axial intensity formula is obtained, which is used to analyze the focal performance in the far field zone of lens. The relative focal shift is totally dependent on the Fresnel number only. The influences of the lens size, preset focal length and incident wavelength can be attributed to the change of Fresnel number. The total phase difference of the lens is approximately equal to the Fresnel number multiplied by pi. Numerical simulations performed using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) and near-far field transformation method are in agreement with the theoretical analysis. Using the theoretical formula assisted by simple numerical method, we provide predictions on the focal shift for the previous literatures. (C)2012 Optical Society of America