Exploiting dual-dielectric devices to produce photonic hooks

Here, we present a method to produce bent light beams known as photonic hooks. This is done by engineering a pair of dielectric particles immersed in free space and exploiting the particular diffraction and scattering characteristics of each particle. We demonstrate how a dual-dielectric structure with symmetrical lateral dimensions and different refractive indices can be used to produce maximum scattering and minimum diffraction to generate photonic hooks appearing away from the output surface of the two dielectrics. We numerically evaluate the results showing the power enhancement, position of the maximum, and the degree of curvature. This work has the potential to open new research directions in applications such as focusing, optical trapping, optical switching and sensing devices.