Researchers from Russia together with colleagues from the UK and Taiwan found and developed a new way to get a “photon hook”. The article of scientists has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.
“Photon hook” is a type of artificially curved beam of light, which can be used to obtain image microscopes in an overtime or for manipulating nanoparticles. However, it was difficult to form it up to the present moment – special particles or specific form of irradiating beam were required.
“A new method allows you to get a hook using two micro-stems of a simple rectangular shape lying parallel. They can be easily made from a wide range of dielectric materials – for example, from simple glass or teflon. In this case, everything can be done on the plane, which is also convenient “,” says the project manager, professor of the electronic engineering sector of non-destructive testing and security and security of the Tomsk Polytechnic University Igor Minin. The electromagnetic wave “disintegrates” into two parts – one passes through the rods, and the second between them. At the outlet of the wave “merge”, and the final beam is twisted.
Control the shape of the hook can be changed by changing the distance between the two rods. In the future, researchers plan to explore how to receive a hook in gas or liquid media – and not only in the air.