Blazing evanescent grating orders: a spectral approach to beating the Rayleigh limit

Abstract

We develop a way to enhance the amplitudes of the nonpropagating evanescent orders of resonant dielectric gratings. We use this blazing to design gratings with spectra tailored to generate steerable sub-Rayleigh field concentrations on a surface. We investigate the enhancement and customization of evanescent fields necessary to create a virtual and passive scanning probe with no moving parts. Spot size can be decreased 1 order of magnitude below the free-space Rayleigh limit.