Sub-diffraction-limit optical needle can be created by a binary amplitude mask through tailoring the interference of diffraction beams. In this paper, a controllable design of super-oscillatory planar lenses to create sub-diffraction-limit optical needles with the tunable focal length and depth of focus (DOF) is presented. As a high-quality optical needle is influenced by various factors, we first propose a multi-objective and multi-constraint optimization model compromising all the main factors to achieve a needle with the prescribed characteristics. The optimizing procedure is self-designed using the Matlab programming language based on the genetic algorithm (GA) and fast Hankel transform algorithm. Numerical simulations show that the optical needles' properties can be controlled accurately. The optimized results are further validated by the theoretical calculation with the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral. The sub-diffraction-limit optical needles can be used in wide fields such as optical nanofabrication, super-resolution imaging, particle acceleration and high-density optical data storage.

We report a metallic planar lens based on the coupled nanoslits with variable widths for superfocusing. The influence of the interaction between two adjacent nanoslits on the phase delay is systematically investigated using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Based on the geometrical optics and the wavefront reconstruction theory, an array of nanoslits perforated in a gold film is optimally designed to achieve the desired phase modulation for light beaming. The simulation result verifies our design in excellent agreement and the realized metallic lens reveals the superfocusing capability of 0.38λ in resolution, well beyond the diffraction limit.

The microlens arrays (MLAs) are widely utilized for various applications. However, when the lens size and the spacing between two adjacent microlenses are of the length scale of the working wavelength, the diffraction effect plays a vital role in the final focusing performance. We suggest a kind of broadband metallic planar microlenses, based on which the ultra-compact microlens arrays are also constructed. The focusing coupling effect revealing for such devices is then investigated in detail by using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, with the emphasis on the changing spacing between adjacent microlenses, the working wavelength, the diameter of microlenses, and the array size. The results show that a larger spacing, a larger lens size, a shorter wavelength, or a smaller array scale can lead to a weaker focusing coupling effect. This research provides an important technological reference to design an array of metallic planar microlenses with the well-controlled focusing performance.

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