Experimental confirmation at visible light

wavelengths of the backscattering enhancement

phenomenon of the photonic nanojet
Seungmoo Yang,1,* Allen Taflove,2 and Vadim Backman1
1
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering,
2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA
2
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University,
McCormick School of Engineering, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA
*seungmoo-yang@northwestern.edu

Abstract: We report what we believe is the first experimental confirmation

at visible light wavelengths of the backscattering enhancement phenomenon
of the photonic nanojet. A specially designed sample stage consisting of a
multilayered sandwich of glass, solid polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and
liquid PDMS, permitted the precise positioning of a gold nanoparticle of
diameter between 50 and 100 nm within the nanojet emitted by a 4.4 μm
diameter BaTiO3 microsphere embedded within the PDMS. We determined
that, when the gold nanoparticle is optimally positioned within the nanojet,
the backscattering of the microsphere can greatly increase: for example, by
3:1 (200%) for the 50 nm gold nanoparticle. The increased backscattering
is strongly dependent upon the illumination wavelength and the numerical
aperture of the imaging system, and occurs for nonresonant illuminations of
the isolated microsphere. Low objective numerical apertures of
approximately 0.075 yield the maximum observed increases in
backscattering. The measured data agree well with numerical calculations
incorporating Mie-based theory and Fourier optics.
©2011 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (170.0170) Medical optics and biotechnology; (290.5850) Scattering, particles;
(290.1350) Backscattering.

References and links

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nanoparticles: a potential novel visible-light ultramicroscopy technique,” Opt. Express 12(7), 1214–1220 (2004).
2. P. Ferrand, J. Wenger, A. Devilez, M. Pianta, B. Stout, N. Bonod, E. Popov, and H. Rigneault, “Direct imaging
of photonic nanojets,” Opt. Express 16(10), 6930–6940 (2008).
3. S. Lecler, Y. Takakura, and P. Meyrueis, “Properties of a three-dimensional photonic jet,” Opt. Lett. 30(19),
2641–2643 (2005).
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5. A. Devilez, B. Stout, N. Bonod, and E. Popov, “Spectral analysis of three-dimensional photonic jets,” Opt.
Express 16(18), 14200–14212 (2008).
6. A. Devilez, B. Stout, and N. Bonod, “Compact metallo-dielectric optical antenna for ultra directional and
enhanced radiative emission,” ACS Nano 4(6), 3390–3396 (2010).
7. Z. Wang, W. Guo, L. Li, B. Luk’yanchuk, A. Khan, Z. Liu, Z. Chen, and M. Hong, “Optical virtual imaging at
50 nm lateral resolution with a white-light nanoscope,” Nat. Commun. 2, 218 (2011), doi:10.1038/ncomms1211.
8. X. Li, Z. Chen, A. Taflove, and V. Backman, “Optical analysis of nanoparticles via enhanced backscattering
facilitated by 3-D photonic nanojets,” Opt. Express 13(2), 526–533 (2005).
9. Z. Chen, A. Taflove, X. Li, and V. Backman, “Superenhanced backscattering of light by nanoparticles,” Opt.
Lett. 31(2), 196–198 (2006).
10. A. Heifetz, K. Huang, A. V. Sahakian, X. Li, A. Taflove, and V. Backman, “Experimental confirmation of
backscattering enhancement induced by a photonic jet,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 89(22), 221118 (2006).
11. L. Zhao and C. K. Ong, “Direct observation of photonic jets and corresponding backscattering enhancement at
microwave frequencies,” J. Appl. Phys. 105(12), 123512 (2009).

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(C) 2011 OSA 11 April 2011 / Vol. 19, No. 8 / OPTICS EXPRESS 7084
12. S.-C. Kong, A. V. Sahakian, A. Heifetz, A. Taflove, and V. Backman, “Robust detection of deeply
subwavelength pits in simulated optical data-storage disks using photonic jets,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 92(21), 211102
(2008).
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Express 16(18), 13713–13719 (2008).
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20(11), 2093–2105 (2003).

1. Introduction
The photonic nanojet is a purely linear phenomenon wherein an illuminated dielectric
microparticle emits from its shadow-side surface a tightly focused beam which propagates
with little divergence for several wavelengths in the external medium [1–3]. Detailed
analyses of the physics basis of the photonic nanojet, which are beyond the scope of the
present paper, are provided in [4,5]. Recently, interest in the related optical properties of
dielectric microspheres has prompted important papers reporting advances in ultra-directional
optical antennas [6] and subdiffraction-resolution optical virtual imaging [7].
One of the most interesting properties of the photonic nanojet is that the backscattering of
the dielectric particle from which it emerges can be greatly increased by the passage of a
much smaller metal particle through the nanojet [1,8–11]. In these papers, numerical models
and dimensionally scaled microwave experiments have shown that, when translated along the
axis of the nanojet, a tiny metal particle only 1/100th the diameter of the dielectric particle
(i.e., only 1/10,000th its physical cross-section) can approximately double the backscattered
power of the dielectric particle. However, to the best of our knowledge, there has not yet been
a direct experimental verification and measurement of this phenomenon at any visible light
wavelength. Such verification and measurement is required to help realize proposed
technology applications in nanoparticle detection/sizing and ultrahigh-density optical data
storage [12,13].
To this end, we report in this paper what we believe is the first experimental confirmation
at visible light wavelengths of the backscattering enhancement phenomenon of the photonic
nanojet. For a dielectric microsphere a few microns in diameter, the backscattering
enhancement is found to be strongly dependent upon the optical wavelength and the numerical
aperture of the imaging system. The measured data agree well with numerical calculations
incorporating Mie-based theory and Fourier optics.

2. Optical imaging experiment sample platform

Repeatable experimental measurements at visible light wavelengths of the backscattering
enhancement phenomenon of the photonic nanojet requires precisely positioning in three
dimensions a metal nanoparticle (diameter ~50 – 100 nm) at the peak intensity point of the
narrow (< 500 nm waist) photonic nanojet which extends outward several microns from the
shadow-side surface of a dielectric microsphere (diameter ~5 μm) along its front-back axis.
All this must occur while minimizing optical reflections caused by the positioning apparatus.
To facilitate these experimental requirements, we employed polydimethylsiloxane
(PDMS) of refractive index n = 1.41 as the background medium in which both the dielectric
microsphere and gold nanoparticles were embedded. This required using a high-index
BaTiO3 microsphere (nμ = 2.1) having an appropriate refractive index contrast to the
background medium to enable generation of a nominal nanojet configuration (length, waist)
over the desired illumination wavelength range, 400 nm < λ0 < 700 nm. Each gold
nanoparticle used had an index at λ0 = 400 nm of 1.47 – j1.95 [14].

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 Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the BaTiO3 microsphere – gold nanoparticle sample platform.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the sandwich-type microsphere – nanoparticle sample

platform. The outer layers of the sandwich were comprised of a pair of glass slides, with each
slide having a single antireflection (< 0.5%) coated surface facing outward to the air. The top
glass slide was tilted to further reduce direct backscattering reflections from its surfaces.
Inward from, and immediately adjacent to each glass slide was a solid PDMS layer. Optical
reflection at the interface of each glass slide and its adjacent solid PDMS layer was found to
be only about 0.1%. The BaTiO3 microsphere was embedded in the lower solid PDMS layer
with the microsphere touching the top surface of this layer. (This embedding was very stable
after curing for 2 hours at 100°C.) At the center of the sandwich between the two solid PDMS
layers, a central region of liquid PDMS contained a suspension of gold nanoparticles. These
attached randomly to the bottom surface of the upper solid PDMS layer.
The microsphere – nanoparticle platform of Fig. 1 was mounted on the sample stage of a
conventional inverted microscope, the Leica DMIRB. Two independent observation
configurations, the imaging mode and the detection mode, were employed. The imaging
mode involved a conventional reflection microscope setup to image and monitor the location
of a nanoparticle relative to the microsphere. Here, a high-magnification (40X) objective was
used with a large numerical aperture (NA = 0.65) illuminated by a halogen source. In the
detection mode, a mercury arc lamp illuminated the sample platform from the bottom with a
quasi-plane wave through a low NA objective (5X, NA = 0.12). The backscattered intensity
was collected with the same objective and fed to the imaging spectrometer which recorded the
spectra and images of the microsphere – nanoparticle combination.
With the sandwich structure of Fig. 1, the relative position of the two solid PDMS layers
could be adjusted in three dimensions because the liquid PDMS (which did not have a curing
agent) lubricated both contact surfaces. Using a three-axis hydraulic micromanipulator, the
top solid PDMS layer was positioned to move one of the gold nanoparticles bound to its
bottom surface toward the center axis of the microsphere located in the solid PDMS layer
below. This positioning was monitored using the high-magnification imaging mode. Once
the gold nanoparticle was positioned close to the center axis of the microsphere, the imaging
mode was switched to the detection mode. Then, the backscattered intensity and spectrum
was recorded as the nanoparticle was translated through the nanojet by further careful tuning
of the micromanipulator.

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3. Theoretical backscattering spectrum—ideal plane-wave illumination
We first report a theoretical study of the wavelength dependence of the backscattering
enhancement phenomenon for a simplified, idealized version of the experiment described in
Section 2 above. In this idealization, the backscattering of a plane-wave-illuminated 4.4 μm
BaTiO3 microsphere (nμ = 2.1) embedded within an infinite PDMS space (n = 1.41) is
calculated for two cases: (1) the isolated microsphere, and (2) the microsphere with a 60 nm
spherical gold nanoparticle optimally located within the nanojet generated by the plane-wave
illumination of the microsphere. The complex-valued wavelength-dependent refractive index
of gold is taken from [14]. We define the normalized incremental backscattering intensity
enhancement δI associated with this system as reported in [8]:

I I    I 
I   (1)
I I

where Iμ is the backscattered intensity of the isolated BaTiO3 microsphere, and Iμ+ν is the
backscattered intensity of the BaTiO3 microsphere / gold nanoparticle system. Effectively, δI
is in units of Iμ. The range 0 < δI < 1 represents minor (but possibly still detectable)
backscattering enhancements, whereas the range δI > 1 represents major backscattering
enhancements. This factor was calculated as a function of wavelength using a validated
generalized multisphere Mie (GMM) code [15].

Fig. 2. Normalized incremental backscattering intensity enhancement δI vs. wavelength for the
idealized BaTiO3 microsphere / gold nanoparticle system.

Figure 2 shows the results of this study. The backscattering intensity Iμ for the isolated
microsphere is plotted as the blue dotted curve, and the backscattering intensity Iμ+ν for the
composite microsphere/nanoparticle system is plotted as the red dotted curve. The continuous
black curve plots the normalized incremental backscattering intensity enhancement δI. We
observe that δI is strongly wavelength-dependent. Relatively large values of δI occur at
wavelengths where the isolated microsphere exhibits no resonances and its backscattering
intensity is small.

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4. Backscattering enhancement simulation tool
In most practical applications using visible light, optical imaging systems are necessary since
the scales of the operating wavelength and the samples of interest are much smaller than the
scale of the geometry of the detection system. We expect the backscattering intensity
enhancement observed using a practical imaging system to differ from the ideal plane-wave
assumptions of Section 3 since an imaging system sums incoherently any wavelength
dependencies, such as shown in Fig. 2. Furthermore, an optical imaging system employs a
nonzero numerical aperture (NA) which sums coherently over the scattering angle.
In order to compare our experimental results with an appropriate theoretical calculation, a
numerical simulation tool incorporating Fourier optics and the rigorous GMM solution of
Maxwell’s equations was developed. Figure 3 depicts the assumed imaging geometry.

Fig. 3. Optical imaging detection scheme which performs a Fourier transformation of the
collimated scattered fields from the microsphere / nanoparticle system.

Referring to Fig. 3, a linearly polarized, monochromatic plane wave propagating in the +z-
direction with the incident field components, E xi and E yi , is assumed to illuminate the
microsphere/nanoparticle system wherein the microsphere is centered in the object plane. In
the far field, the scattered field components, Es and Es , in spherical coordinates are
calculated from the GMM theory. These field components are related to the incident field
components by the 2 × 2 amplitude matrix S [15,16]:

 Es  eikr  cos  sin    E xi 

 E s   ikr S   sin  cos    E yi 
(2)
  
where k is the wavenumber of the incident field in the surrounding medium.
An objective lens is assumed to collect (i.e., integrate) these scattered fields over the
complete azimuthal angle range 0 <  < 360° about the –z-axis, and over the zenith angle
range 180° – θNA < θ < 180° with respect to the + z-axis. This collection cone is determined
by the NA of the objective lens. Then, the objective lens is assumed to convert the diverging
scattered fields in spherical coordinates into collimated fields in Cartesian coordinates,
wherein the collimated field components, E xc and E yc , are obtained by:

 Exc   cos  sin    Es 

 c     
cos    Es 
(3)
 E y    sin 

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 This coordinate transformation depends only upon the azimuthal angle . The radial
location of the collimated field components is related to the focal length of the objective, fo,
and the scattering angle, θ, simply by r(x, y) = fo × cosθ. Finally, a tube-lens algorithm
performs the two-dimensional Fourier transform of the collimated fields, Exc (r,  ) and
Eyc (r,  ) , and forms the image of the microsphere-nanosphere system in the image plane
located at the focal distance, f , of the lens by:

 E Xo   Exc 
 
 E o   F.T.  E c 
(4)
Y 
 y 
Figure 4 illustrates an example of the accuracy of this tool in computationally synthesizing
images of micron-scale objects. This figure compares the experimental and computed images
of two adjacent, contacting, polystyrene microspheres (in air) of diameter 4.3 μm. An NA =
0.6 was used, assuming illumination wavelengths between 400 and 700 nm. Each image is
normalized by its maximum intensity, and the same gray scale is used for both. We observe
good agreement between the experimental and numerical images.

Fig. 4. Comparison of experimental (a) and computed (b) images of two 4.3 μm diameter
polystyrene microspheres for NA = 0.6 and wavelengths between 400 nm and 700 nm.

5. Backscattering enhancement measurements

We now report measurements and comparative numerical results for the sample platform of
Fig. 1 and the imaging system of Fig. 3. Here, a 4.4 μm diameter BaTiO3 microsphere was
embedded in solid PDMS, and a gold nanoparticle of diameter either 50 nm, 60 nm, 80 nm, or
100 nm was positioned in liquid PDMS 350 nm above the microsphere within its nanojet. An
unpolarized broadband visible-light (λ0 = 400 to 700 nm) plane wave illuminated the system,
and the backscattered intensities were measured. Imaging results for this system are shown in
Fig. 5.
Figure 5 qualitatively illustrates the visible-light backscattering enhancement caused by a
100 nm gold nanoparticle located within the nanojet of the 4.4 μm diameter BaTiO 3
microsphere embedded in PDMS. In Fig. 5, both images are normalized by the maximum
intensity, 1669, of the central peak in Fig. 5(b), with the same gray scale used for both images
and the background signal not removed. From Fig. 5(b), it is clear that the presence of the
gold nanoparticle in the nanojet of the microsphere significantly enhanced the microsphere’s
visibility. Otherwise, when isolated, the microsphere was barely visible above the
background, as shown in Fig. 5(a). (Note that Fig. 5(b) does not show the “rings” seen in Fig.

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4 because: (a) the intensity of the rings is very small relative to the central peak generated by
the nanoparticle; and (b) the sharpness of the rings is reduced by the comparatively low value
of NA = 0.12 used to obtain Figs. 5(a) and 5(b) vs. NA = 0.6 used to obtain Fig. 4.)

Fig. 5. Comparison of two experimental visible-light backscattering images: (a) isolated 4.4
μm diameter BaTiO3 microsphere in PDMS; (b) microsphere of (a) with a 100 nm gold
nanoparticle located 350 nm above the microsphere within its nanojet. 5X magnification and
NA = 0.12.

Figure 6(a) shows computational modeling results for the normalized backscattering
intensity enhancement as a function of the NA for the experiment of Fig. 5. These results
reveal that the enhancement factor initially rises as the NA is increased from zero. The
enhancement factor reaches a maximum value of about 65 when the NA is approximately
0.075, corresponding to a scattering integration angle between 175° and 180°. Thereafter, the
enhancement factor decreases rapidly. Note that the previously reported dimensionally scaled
microwave measurements of backscattering enhancement [10,11] used what amounted to be a
zero-NA detection system.

Fig. 6. (a) Computationally modeled NA dependence of the backscattering intensity

enhancement caused by a 100-nm gold nanoparticle for the broadband illumination case of Fig.
5. (b) Typical monochromatic scattering intensity of the microsphere vs. scattering angle θ.

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 The reason why the maximum backscattering enhancement occurs for a nonzero NA can
be deduced by considering Fig. 6(b), which plots a typical monochromatic, -symmetric,
scattering intensity pattern of the microsphere/nanoparticle system vs. the scattering angle θ.
Here, we see that the scattering intensity oscillates as θ decreases from 180° (direct
backscattering). For a nonzero collection angle defined by the NA of the objective, fields
scattered at smaller angles than 180° are summed coherently to form an image in the image
plane. Due to the angular oscillation of the scattered field, the total intensity for a nonzero
NA has a maximum value at θ corresponding to the first peak in Fig. 6(b).

Fig. 7. (a) Measured backscattering spectral responses of the 4.4 μm diameter BaTiO3
microsphere with and without the nearby perturbing 100 nm diameter gold nanoparticle for an
objective NA = 0.12. (b) Spectral response of the backscattering enhancement based upon the
data of (a).

Figure 7(a) depicts the measured backscattering spectral responses of the 4.4 μm diameter
BaTiO3 microsphere with and without the nearby perturbing 100 nm diameter gold
nanoparticle for an imaging objective NA of 0.12. Figure 7(b) plots the spectral response of
the backscattering intensity enhancements corresponding to the data of Fig. 7(a). We observe
that the enhancement factor exhibits repetitive peaks similar to the numerical results shown in
Fig. 2, although the heights of these peaks are smaller than the numerical ones. Background
noise and the limited resolution of the spectrometer used in the measurements may have
contributed to this difference. Despite this limitation, measured enhancement factors reached
almost 24 dB at wavelengths between 600 and 700 nm. We note that these large
enhancements reduce to about 17 dB when the spectral intensities are integrated.
Figure 8 depicts the dependence of the backscattering intensity enhancement upon the
diameter of the gold nanoparticle in the nanojet. The upper blue dotted line with star marks
shows the GMM-calculated backscattering intensities as a function of the gold nanoparticle
size for free-space, λ0 = 400 nm, plane-wave illumination of the 3.5 μm polystyrene
microsphere / gold nanoparticle system reported in [8]. In [8], gold nanoparticles sized from 2
to 60 nm yielded the slope m  3.3, whereas m  5.1 was obtained for nanoparticles sized
from 50 to 100 nm.

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 Fig. 8. Measured and modeled backscattering intensity enhancements as a function of the gold
nanoparticle diameter.

The two lower curves in Fig. 8 are our experimental results (red dotted line with star
marks) and our computational model results (blue dotted line with circle marks) for the
backscattering enhancements obtained with the system of Figs. 1 and 3 for an objective NA of
0.12. The measured and modeled results agree well for gold nanoparticle sizes of 50, 60, 80,
and 100 nm. Relative to the results in [8], our measured slope m  4.5 is smaller, and the
enhancement factor is reduced by 10 dB because of the averaging effect over the broadband
illumination wavelengths that we used.
Despite our smaller measured backscattering enhancements relative to what Ref. [8].
obtained theoretically for monochromatic illumination, Fig. 8 shows that a gold nanoparticle
as small as 50 nm can be readily detected using broadband visible light via the nanojet
backscattering enhancement phenomenon. This size nanoparticle caused a measured 3:1
(200%) increase in the measured backscattering intensity of the adjacent 4.4 μm diameter
microsphere when positioned within its nanojet.

6. Summary and conclusions

In this paper, we reported what we believe is the first experimental confirmation at visible
light wavelengths of the backscattering enhancement phenomenon of the photonic nanojet
emitted by a dielectric microsphere. A specially designed sample stage consisting of a
multilayered sandwich of glass, solid PDMS, and liquid PDMS, permitted the precise
positioning of a gold nanoparticle of diameter between 50 and 100 nm within the nanojet
emitted by a 4.4 μm diameter BaTiO3 microsphere. A conventional microscope imaging
system with a low numerical aperture (NA) objective was used to generate a backscattered
image of the microsphere/nanoparticle system using broadband visible light as the
illumination. We also formulated a numerical model incorporating Mie-based theory and
Fourier optics which agreed well with the measurements.
Via measurements and computational modeling, we determined that the backscattering
enhancement is strongly dependent upon the illumination wavelength and NA of the imaging
system. The largest backscattering enhancements occur for nonresonant illuminations of the

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microsphere (when considered in isolation). Low objective NAs of approximately 0.075 yield
the maximum observed increases in backscattering. Due to the wavelength-averaging scheme
of the broadband imaging system, the measured peak backscattering enhancement was found
to be about 10 dB less than calculated theoretically for monochromatic illumination.
We demonstrated experimentally that a gold nanoparticle as small as 50 nm can be readily
detected using broadband visible light via the nanojet backscattering enhancement
phenomenon. This size nanoparticle caused a measured 3:1 (200%) increase in the measured
backscattering intensity of the adjacent 4.4 μm diameter microsphere when positioned within
its nanojet. We found that this backscattering enhancement factor can be further increased if
the objective NA is adjusted to the optimum value.
Overall, the backscattering enhancement phenomenon of the photonic nanojet affords the
possibility of broadband visible light detection of gold nanoparticles even smaller than 50 nm.
The lower bound on the detectable nanoparticle size will ultimately be determined by the
dynamic range of the optical measurement system, i.e., its ability to distinguish fractional (less
than 100%) enhancements of the backscattering of the nanojet-generating microsphere in the
presence of the background.

Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant R01 EB003682 and
National Science Foundation (NSF) grant CBET-0937987. Dr. Kwonnam Sohn of Prof.
Jiaxing Huang’s research group in Northwestern’s Materials Science and Engineering
Department provided the 100 nm gold nanoparticles used in this research.

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