Broadband forward scattering from dielectric cubic nanoantenna in lossless media.

Dielectric photonics platform provides unique possibilities to control light scattering via utilizing high-index dielectric nanoantennas with peculiar optical signatures. Despite the intensively growing field of all-dielectric nanophotonics, it is still unclear how surrounding media affect scattering properties of a nanoantenna with complex multipole response. Here, we report on light scattering by a silicon cubic nanoparticle embedded in lossless media, supporting optical resonant response. We show that significant changes in the scattering process are governed by the electro-magnetic multipole resonances, which experience spectral red-shift and broadening over the whole visible and near-infrared spectra as the indices of media increase. Most interestingly, the considered nanoantenna exhibits the broadband forward scattering in the visible and near-infrared spectral ranges due to the Kerker-effect in high-index media. The revealed effect of broadband forward scattering is essential for highly demanding applications in which the influence of the media is crucial such as health-care, e.g., sensing, treatment efficiency monitoring, and diagnostics. In addition, the insights from this study are expected to pave the way toward engineering the nanophotonic systems including but not limited to Huygens-metasurfaces in media within a single framework.

Giant absorption of light by molecular vibrations on a chip.

Vibrational overtone spectroscopy of molecules is a powerful tool for drawing information on molecular structure and dynamics. It relies on absorption of near infrared radiation (NIR) by molecular vibrations. Here we show the experimental evidence of giant enhancement of the absorption of light in solutions of organic molecules due to the switch from ballistic to diffusive propagation of light through a channel silicate glass waveguide. We also experimentally address a dynamics of absorption as a function of time of adsorption of the organic molecules on a waveguide. The observed enhancement in diffusion regime is by a factor of 300 in N-Methylaniline and by factor of 80 in Aniline compared to the expected values in the case of ballistic propagation of light in a waveguide. Our results underscore the importance of a guide surface modification and the disordered molecular nano-layer in enhancement of absorption by amines on engineered integrated system.