ICE_4221 Enterprise Design & Modelling

Assignment 2: Photonics/Electromagnetics modelling and simulation (2024)

Suggested Assignment Duration: 3 Weeks full time

Besides electronics, optics and photonics are common engineering problems, which deal with the
science and application of light. This assignment will involve the use of Optics or Radio Frequency
modules in COMSOL software to study light interaction with micro and nano-sized particles. Light
scattering and focusing effect. This assignment draws on knowledge from chapters 4, 6 & 8 of the
module notes, a presentation on the topic by the lecturer and your own background reading.

Introduction
Photonics play an important role in driving innovation in an increasing number of fields. The
application of photonics spreads across several sectors: from optical data communications to
imaging, lighting and displays; from the manufacturing sector to life sciences, health care, security,
and safety. The frontier of photonics research is currently moving into the nano and quantum era,
including topics such as plasmonics, metamaterials, nanophotonics and quantum
communication/imaging/sensing and all-optical computing. One of the key problems in these
researches is to investigate how light interacts with small structures, such as micro nano particles
and subwavelength metamaterial structures. In 1908, German scientist G. Mie derived an exact
analytical solution to Maxwell equation when light interaction with a spherical particle. This theory,
known as ‘Mie theory’, is one of the most important theory in the history of science. It can explain a
wide range of optical phenomenon including ‘blue sky’, ‘Lycugus cup plasmonic colour effect
(Fig.1)’, and ‘Photonic NanoJet (PNJ) superlens effect (Fig.2)’, among others. At Bangor, we are
pioneer of widely publicized microsphere and nanosphere based super lens technologies including
‘microsphere nanoscope’ [1], ‘spider silk
superlens’ [2] and ‘metamaterial
nanoparticle superlens’ [3]. Besides
analytical Mie theory, numerical techniques
such as Finite Difference in Time Domain
(FDTD), Finite Integral Technique (FIT) and
Finite Element Method (FEM) can be used
to solve light scattering problems by
particles. FEM software COMSOL is used in
this assignment to study the PNJ effect. PNJ
is a narrow, high-intensity electromagnetic
beam that propagates into the background
medium from the shadow-side surface of a
plane-wave illuminated lossless dielectric
micro-cylinder or microsphere of diameter
greater than the illuminating wavelength, λ.
Fig.1 The Lycurgus cup in British Museum has colloidal metal The PNJ is attained via light scattering by
nanoparticles suspended in glass. Due to plasmonic effects micro-sized particles such as spheres,
the glass appears green when viewed in reflection and red in
transmission.
cylinders, cubes, prisms and others, typical
diameter between 1- 50μm). This is an
important effect which is now widely used for
subwavelength patterning, imaging, sensing,
nanoparticle trapping and manipulation, etc.
Reference 4 is recommended for your reading on PNJ.
 Figure 2 shows an example of
PNJ focusing. The incident light
is a plane wave with electric field
amplitude |E|=1, wavelength 
=248 nm , linearly polarized
along x-direction, and
propagates along z-axis from -z
to +z. The particle is Polystyrene
microsphere with diameter 1.0
m (radius a=500 nm) and
refractive index 1.6. The ambient
media is air. The size parameter
Fig. 2 An example of photonic nanojet focusing q is defined as q=2πa/λ. Figure
1(a) and (b) show the near-field
distribution of electric field
intensity distribution, I = |E|2,
inside and outside the particle in
XZ and YZ cross-sectional plane,
respectively. Fig. 1(c) shows the
extracted data of (a) along Z-
axis, from which one can find the
maximum peak position and field
enhancement factor which are
z=a and ~60 respectively. Fig.
Fig.2 Light focusing by a solid transparent microsphere, leading to 1(d) is 2D plot at the plane z=a,
the Photonic NanoJet (PNJ) effect. This is a 3D microsphere model. tangent plane right under the
particle where we can observe an
elliptical focus spot with a
resolution of 0.39 along y-direction beyond the classical diffraction limit of half the incident
wavelength, i.e. 0.5. Such super-resolution focusing spot has found applications in laser
nanomachining, imaging, sensing and biological detection.

In Fig. 1, the simulation problem relates to the calculation of absorption, reflection, and transmission
spectrum of metallic (plasmonic) nanoparticles, which are experimentally measured at a distance far
away from the object (d>> λ). This is a ‘far-field’ computation problem. In contrast, in Fig.2 case, we
are interested in the electric field distribution in the nearby region of the particle, thus a ‘near-field’
computation problem. This assignment will focus on near-field computation only, while the concepts
of far-field and near-field will be explained more during the lecture.

While the University PC is sufficient to deal with photonics problems relating to nanoparticles
(Fig.1), it becomes difficult to model micro-sized spherical particles (Fig. 2) if the diameter becomes
larger than 5 micrometres. To circumvent such resource limitations, we limit ourselves to 2D (micro-
cylinder) problems in the following tasks. Examples of 2D micro-cylinder focusing PNJ can be found
in reference [5].

Tasks:

Task1: Microcylinder PNJ Analysis: Use COMSOL to create a 2D light scattering model for a
microcylinder with the following parameters, particle diameter d= 3 m, refractive index np = 1.90
(BaTiO3), light wavelength  = 550 nm, surrounding medium: Water nm=1.33); Calculate and
compare the near-field electric field intensity distribution of |E| 2 for both TE and TM polarization
light. Find the maximum peak enhancement and focus position.

Task 2: Particle Size effect on PNJ: Under TE-polarization light, calculate and compare |E| 2 field
distribution for different size particles with d= 5, 10 m; other parameters remain the same to task1.
Discuss how the size of the microcylinder influences the PNJ focusing properties.

Task 3: Wavelength effect on PNJ: study the wavelength effect by changing incident wavelength
from =550 nm to =1064 nm as in task1 for TE-polarization, how does the focus change?

Task 4: Micro-ellipse PNJ analysis: Repeat task 1, but replace the cylinder-shaped particle with a
ellipse-shaped particle with side length d= 3 m, keeping all other parameters the same. See Fig.3.

Task 5: Micro-ellipse size effect: Repeat task2, but for micro-ellipse instead of microcylinders,
with d= 5, 10 m.

Task 6 Discussion and Summary: Discuss and summarize the key findings from Tasks 1 to 5.
Compare the effects of particle shape, size, and wavelength on PNJ formation. Highlight the
differences observed between microcylinders and micro-ellipse in terms of field enhancement and
focus position.

Assignment Submission

You are required to work individually on the assignment and submit a written report on your
simulations.This report should draw on knowledge from other modules or previous studies where
appropriate and should consist of:
• A short introduction describing the aim of the project.
• A brief background information section describing only essential background physics or
mathematics required to understand this specific problem.
• A method section describing how your model was created along with any physics,
boundary, and subdomain settings. You should explain why each boundary and
subdomain parameter has been chosen. Describe the boundary/physics/subdomain
NOT THE ACTION YOU PERFORMED IN THE SOFTWARE
• A Results section presenting and describing your findings in a clear and concise
 manner. The data that answers any specific questions in this document should be
presented here along with simulations that have been used to understand the
assignment tasks. All graphs/images must be clearly readable on a printed
A4 page

• A discussion section presenting a detailed explanation for your observations from the
modelling exercise. You should also include in your discussion any evidence from
literature that confirms or contradicts your findings. This section should also explain the
answers to any specific questions asked in this document. A short conclusions section
that summarises the work carried out and key findings from the work. A references
section containing full references to any information sources you will, of course, have
used in your work.
Your report should have a similar structure to a scientific journal publication or book Chapter. It may
help you to imagine that the report is to become a published paper. Ask yourself what information is
necessary for someone else to reproduce your work and what is the best way to clearly, concisely
present, and fully explain your findings? The reader of the report may not have the same software
as you to reproduce your model so your report should describe your work in non-software specific
ways. For instance, describe the physics and maths that you are simulating not the actions you
undertook in the software. Remember the reader of your report needs to be told what your results
are and why they occur.

Marking criteria:
Your report will be marked on your technical understanding of the problem and simulations (40%),
your achievements in carrying out the requested tasks in this assignment (40%) and your ability to
clearly present your data (20%). The report itself accounts for 30% of your module mark. You
should bear in mind that a typical scientific paper for this type of study is often limited to just 6
pages long. Therefore, every sentence must present relevant information and be concisely written.
Your report should be written in a similar manner. Overly long reports are likely to incur a
penalty.
An oral presentation, accounting for 10% of module mark, will be arranged after report submission.
Your report will be subject to the Bangor University plagiarism rules which are explained in your
student handbook.
Your individual assignment report should be submitted through Blackboard (online) by given
deadline announced in class and Blackboard.

References:

[1] Zengbo Wang, Wei Guo, Lin Li, Boris Luk'yanchuk, Ashfaq Khan, Zhu Liu, Zaichun Chen, and
Minghui Hong, "Optical virtual imaging at 50 nm lateral resolution with a white-light nanoscope",
Nat. Commun. 2, 218 (2011)
[2] J.N.Monks, B.Yan, N. Hawkins, F. Vollrath, Z.B.Wang, Spider silk: Mother Nature's Bio-
superlens, Nano Lett., 16(9), 5842–5845, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b02641 (2016)
[3] W. Fan, B. Yan, Z. B.Wang, L. Wu, Three-dimensional all-dielectric metamaterial solid immersion
lens for subwavelength imaging at visible frequencies, Sci. Adv. 2, e1600901 (2016).
[4] B.S. Luk'yanchuk, R.Paniagua-Dominguez, I. Minin, O. Mini, Z.B. Wang, "Refractive index less
than two: photonic nanojets yesterday, today and tomorrow [invited]", Opt. Mater. Express 7, 1820-
1847 (2017).
[5] Heifetz, A., Kong, S. C., Sahakian, A. V., Taflove, A., & Backman, V. (2009). Photonic
nanojets. Journal of computational and theoretical nanoscience, 6(9), 1979-1992.