Systematic study of the characteristics of the photonic nanojets formed by dielectric microcylinders

We studied the characteristics of photonic nanojets formed by dielectric microcylinders over the visible spectrum using FDTD numerical simulations. We varied a wide range of tuning parameters including the refractive indices of the microcylinder and the background medium, size and shape of the microcylinder, and wavelength and state of polarization of the incident light. Our results show how nanojets can be fine-tuned by adjusting these parameters. Our results have implications for high-resolution optical sensors and high-resolution imaging, and will inform on the design of novel microparticle-embedded optical devices. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.