Microaxicon-generated photonic nanojets

We report on the calculations of optical radiation scattering at micrometer-sized conical-shape dielectric particles (microaxicons) with special attention given to the specific spatially localized near-field area constituting a photonic nanojet (PNJ). By virtue of finite-difference time-domain simulations we show for the first time, to the best our knowledge, that the PNJ produced by a microaxicon of specific spatial orientation can exhibit extreme axial elongation up to similar to 25 lambda (at defined intensity level) while retaining high peak intensity and sub-wavelength transverse width. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America