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Recent progress in nanoscale optical physics is associated with the development of a new branch of nanophotonics exploring strong Mie resonances in dielectric nanoparticles with a high refractive index. The high-index resonant dielectric nanostructures form building blocks for novel photonic metadevices with low losses and advanced functionalities. However, unlike extensively studied cavities in photonic crystals, such dielectric resonators demonstrate low quality factors (Q factors). Here, we uncover a novel mechanism for achieving giant Q factors of subwavelength nanoscale resonators by realizing the regime of bound states in the continuum. In contrast to the previously suggested multilayer structures with zero permittivity, we reveal strong mode coupling and Fano resonances in homogeneous high-index dielectric finite-length nanorods resulting in high-Q factors at the nanoscale. Thus, high-index dielectric resonators represent the simplest example of nanophotonic supercavities, expanding substantially the range of applications of all-dielectric resonant nanophotonics and meta-optics.

We study experimentally a fine structure of the optical Laue diffraction from two-dimensional periodic photonic lattices. The periodic photonic lattices with the C4v square symmetry, orthogonal C2v symmetry, and hexagonal C6v symmetry are composed of submicron dielectric elements fabricated by the direct laser writing technique. We observe surprisingly strong optical diffraction from a finite number of elements that provides an excellent tool to determine not only the symmetry but also exact number of particles in the finite-length structure and the sample shape. Using different samples with orthogonal C2v symmetry and varying the lattice spacing, we observe experimentally a transition between the regime of multi-order diffraction, being typical for photonic crystals to the regime where only the zero-order diffraction can be observed, being is a clear fingerprint of dielectric metasurfaces characterized by effective parameters.

Whispering gallery mode microdisk cavities fabricated by direct laser writing are studied using dark-field imaging and spectroscopy in the visible spectral range. Dark-field imaging allows us to directly visualize the spatial intensity distribution of whispering gallery modes. We extract their azimuthal and radial mode indices from dark-field images, and find the axial mode number from the dispersion relation. The scattering spectrum obtained in the confocal arrangement provides information on the density of optical states in the resonator. The proposed technique is a simple noninvasive way to characterize the optical properties of microdisk cavities.

Photonic crystals and dielectric metamaterials represent two different classes of artificial media but are often composed of similar structural elements. The question is how to distinguish these two types of periodic structures when their parameters, such as permittivity and lattice constant, vary continuously. Here we discuss transition between photonic crystals and dielectric metamaterials and introduce the concept of a phase diagram, based on the physics of Mie and Bragg resonances. We show that a periodic photonic structure transforms into a metamaterial when the Mie gap opens up below the lowest Bragg bandgap where the homogenization approach can be justified and the effective permeability becomes negative. Our theoretical approach is confirmed by microwave experiments for a metacrystal composed of tubes filled with heated water. This analysis yields deep insight into the properties of periodic structures, and provides a useful tool for designing different classes of electromagnetic materials with variable parameters.

We reveal that the resonant Mie scattering by high-index dielectric nanoparticles can be presented through cascades of Fano resonances. We employ the exact solution of Maxwell's equations and demonstrate that the Lorenz-Mie coefficients of the Mie problem can be expressed generically as infinite series of Fano functions as they describe interference between the background radiation originated from an incident wave and narrow-spectrum Mie scattering modes that lead to Fano resonances.

Metamaterials, artificial electromagnetic media realized by subwavelength nano-structuring, have become a paradigm for engineering electromagnetic space, allowing for independent control of both electric and magnetic responses of the material. Whereas most metamaterials studied so far are limited to passive structures, the need for active metamaterials is rapidly growing. However, the fundamental question on how the energy of emitters is distributed between both (electric and magnetic) interaction channels of the metamaterial still remains open. Here we study simultaneous spontaneous emission of quantum dots into both of these channels and define the control parameters for tailoring the quantum-dot coupling to metamaterials. By superimposing two orthogonal modes of equal strength at the wavelength of quantum-dot photoluminescence, we demonstrate a sharp difference in their interaction with the magnetic and electric metamaterial modes. Our observations reveal the importance of mode engineering for spontaneous emission control in metamaterials, paving a way towards loss-compensated metamaterials and metamaterial nanolasers.

In this work we offer a simple analytical method which allows us to determine and study the effects of the selective switching of photonic stop-bands in multi-component photonic crystals (Mc-PhCs) of any dimensionality. The calculations for Mc-PhCs with low dielectric contrast have been performed in the framework of the model based on the scattering form factor analysis. It has been shown that the effects of selective switching of photonic stop-bands predicted theoretically and found experimentally before in three-dimensional (3D) Mc-PhC have a general character and may be observed also in one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) Mc-PhCs. It is found that 1D, 2D and 3D Mc-PhCs demonstrate unexpectedly similar quasi-periodic behaviour of photonic stop-bands as a function of the reciprocal lattice vector. A proper choice of the structural and dielectric parameters can create a resonance photonic stop-band determining the Bragg wavelengths, to which a photonic crystal can never be transparent.

We report the observation of a Fano resonance between continuum Mie scattering and a narrow Bragg band in synthetic opal photonic crystals. The resonance leads to a transmission spectrum exhibiting a Bragg dip with an asymmetric profile, which can be tunably reversed to a Bragg rise. The Fano asymmetry parameter is linked with the dielectric contrast between the permittivity of the filler and the specific value determined by the opal matrix. The existence of the Fano resonance is directly related to disorder due to nonuniformity of a-SiO2 opal spheres. The theoretical "quasi-3D" model produces results in excellent agreement with the experimental data.