Light funneling from a photonic crystal laser cavity to a nano-antenna: overcoming the diffraction limit in optical energy transfer down to the nanoscale.

We show that the near-field coupling between a photonic crystal microlaser and a nano-antenna can enable hybrid photonic systems that are both physically compact (free from bulky optics) and efficient at transferring optical energy into the nano-antenna. Up to 19% of the laser power from a micron-scale photonic crystal laser cavity is experimentally transferred to a bowtie aperture nano-antenna (BNA) whose area is 400-fold smaller than the overall emission area of the microlaser. Instead of a direct deposition of the nano-antenna onto the photonic crystal, it is fabricated at the apex of a fiber tip to be accurately placed in the microlaser near-field.

Fiber-integrated optical nano-tweezer based on a bowtie-aperture nano-antenna at the apex of a SNOM tip.

We propose a new concept of fiber-integrated optical nano-tweezer on the basis of a single bowtie-aperture nano-antenna (BNA) fabricated at the apex of a metal-coated SNOM tip. We demonstrate 3D optical trapping of 0.5 micrometer latex beads with input power which does not exceed 1 mW.

Near-field and far-field analysis of an azimuthally polarized slow Bloch mode microlaser.

We report on the near- and far-field investigation of the slow Bloch modes associated with the Γ point of the Brillouin zone, for a honeycomb lattice photonic crystal, using near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) and infra-red CCD camera. The array of doughnut-shaped monopolar mode (mode M) inside each unit cell, predicted previously by numerical simulation, is experimentally observed in the near-field by means of a metal-coated NSOM tip. In far-field, we detect the azimuthal polarization of the doughnut laser beam due to destructive and constructive interference of the mode radiating from the surface (mode TEM(01*)).