Journal of Electromagnetic Analysis and Applications, 2012, 4, 485-491
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jemaa.2012.412068 Published Online December 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/jemaa)
485
Three-Dimensional Planar Metallic Lenses Based on
Concentric Rings with Modulated Subwavelength Width
Di Feng1,2, Chunxi Zhang1, Lishuang Feng1, Yuanhong Yang1
1School of Instrumentation Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China; 2State Key Laboratory of
Millimeter Waves, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
Received October 7th, 2012; revised November 6th, 2012; accepted November 25th, 2012
ABSTRACT
A kind of Subwavelength Planar Metallic Lenses (SPMLs) is proposed to realize far-field optical focusing in the visible
range based on concentric rings with modulated width in a silver film. The width of each metallic ring is mutative so
that the radiation fields of surface plasmon polaritons can be controlled and the relevant phase retardations can be
modulated to make a beam focus at the desired position. For comparison, the Subwavelength Planar Dielectric Lenses
(SPDLs) structured on silica glass with the same concentric ring shapes as SPMLs are analyzed, although without
opaque metal coating on SPDLs, the computational results show that SPMLs can support higher intensity focal spot,
narrower full-width half-maximum beam width, and longer depth of focus at the focal region under certain lens thick-
ness due to the coupling of surface plasomon polaritons, diffracted evanescent waves and propagated electromagnetic
waves.
Keywords: Subwavelength Structures; Focus; Surface Plasmons; Diffractive Lenses
1. Introduction
Metallic nanostructures have been a subject of consider-
able interest in recent years, since the discovery of ex-
traordinary optical transmission phenomena through sub-
wavelength metallic aperture array [1,2]. Such light
transmission phenomena may be explained as an excita-
tion of a Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs) mode which
is an electromagnetic excitation existing on the surface of
noble metals at the nano-scale aperture entrance where
electromagnetic wave propagates through it before emit-
ting into radiation modes at the exit [3-5]. Otherwise, with
developments of nanofabrication techniques, such as la-
ser beam writing, electron beam lithography, and focused
ion beam etching, nano-scale metallic structures with
high refinement are available. This has enabled to develop
new nanophotonic integrated devices based on the plas-
monic behavior of metals used for wave guiding, bio-
sensing, and superfocusing, etc. [6,7]. In general cases,
light can be focused by dielectric optical elements, such
as refractive lenses, diffractive lenses, etc, but due to the
diffraction of light wave, the resolution of a dielectric
lens is limited to about half of the working wavelength.
Driven by the potential applications in higher resolution
imaging and microscopy, higher density optical data
storage, and optoelectronics integrated devices, etc, and
by the discovery of extraordinary optical transmission
phenomena, researchers have paid more attentions to the
study of plasmonic lenses or metallic lenses based on SPPs
and near field evanescent waves, due to the fact that the
lens provides a possible solution to get a higher resolu-
tion, which also opens up a new way for new kinds of
nano-optics devices with thin metallic film. Recently,
metal coated Fresnel Zone Plates (FZPs) have been pro-
posed to realize superlens in the visible wavelength [8-10],
otherwise with constant depth but variant widths, say,
planar metallic lens, is proposed to focus beam by modu-
lating light phase [11], and more, the same group found
that the relative phase of emitting light scattered by sur-
face plasmon in a single subwavelength metallic groove
can be modulated by the groove depth [12]. Lieven, et al.
experimentally demonstrated planar lenses based on nano-
scale slit arrays in a metallic film, and got an excellent
agreement between electromagnetic simulations of the
design and confocal measurements on manufactured struc-
tures [13]. But subwavelength structure sizes of lenses
mentioned above are quite small (less then several de-
cades nanometers for some slits or rings), made in a thick
metal film (hundreds of nanometers), which is difficult to
fabricate. Although, more recently, Chen has proposed a
new plasmonic lens with refractive index modulation tech-
nology, and gotten a higher light intensity at the focus

Three-Dimensional Planar Metallic Lenses Based on Concentric
Rings with Modulated Subwavelength Width
486
[14], this method still increases the burden for design and
fabrication of lenses. In our previous study, we analyzed
focusing characteristics of one-dimensional planar di-
electric lenses with binary subwavelength structures based
on the electromagnetic theory in detail [15]. This Sub-
wave-length Planar Dielectric Lenses (SPDLs) can focus
light beam quite well and satisfy the planar micro or
nano lithographic process. Little work, however, has been
done on analyzing focusing characteristics of two-dimen-
sional Subwavelength Planar Metallic Lenses (SPMLs)
with the same structures as the SPDLs.
So, in this paper, we present the rigorous electromag-
netic analysis and design of SPMLs based on concentric
nano-rings with modulated width by using 3-D finite-
difference time-domain method [16]. The focusing cha-
racteristics of planar lenses with nano-scale rings which
have the same depth but tuning widths, for linear polari-
zation illumination and for different material (metal sli-
ver and dielectric silica) have been investigated and com-
pared. The simulation results indicate that using the de-
sign method of SPDLs, SPMLs can indeed be employed
in focusing light in the visible range. The comparative
results have shown that when the thickness is less than
200 nm, though SPMLs have opaque silver film and
SPDLs are etched on the glass substrate without opaque
parts, SPMLs will still support higher intensity focal spot
with narrower Full-Width Half-Maximum (FWHM) beam
width and longer depth of focus at the focal region since
the propagation constants of SPPs and relative phases in
metallic rings are strongly dependent on the rings’ width
and film’s thickness. When the thickness is larger than
200 nm, the loss of metal will increase, so SPDLs will
have better focal performances than those of SPMLs.
This ability to manipulate a beam of light in the visible
range on the nano-scale metal rings can improve the qua-
lity of systems in applications such as photonic and plas-
monic integrated devices, optical data storage, sensing
and imaging, etc.
This paper is organized as follows: In Section 2 we
discuss the basic formulas used in our study, and de-
scribe subwavelength structures of SPMLs. In Section 3
we provide and compare results of rigorous designs and
analysis of SPMLs and SPDLs with different thicknesses
in detail. Finally, a brief conclusion and our contribution
are given in Section 4.
2. Theoretical Background and Structure
2.1. Basic Formulas
In our earlier work [15], to a conventional diffractive
lens, we approximated its continuous profile to a piece-
wise-linear profile, and then encoded the individual lin-
ear segments as binary subwavelength structures, so a
Subwavelength Planar Dielectric Lens (SPDL) will be
made. In a geometrical argument, the phase delay as a
function of radius r from the center of a lens can be ob-
tained readily according to the equal optical length prin-
ciple:



22
0
2πrnffr

  (1)
where λ0 is the wavelength of light in free space, n the
refractive index of air and f is the focal length of a lens.
According to this phase distribution, for the normal inci-
dence, the lens will have a continuous surface-relief pro-
file, and then this profile can be approximated by linearly
increasing widths of a subwavelength planar feature. Al-
though SPDLs using this technique can provide good
focusing performances, they contain small subwavelength
feature sizes and large aspect ratios (ratio of minimum
feature height to width) that make them difficult to fa-
bricate. So in this paper, we use this technique to make
the profile (concentric rings with modulated width) of
SPDLs and SPMLs, but the thickness of lens is less than
a micrometer.
2.2. Description of Subwavelength Structures
A schematic of a subwavelength planar lens is shown in
Figure 1, where D is the diameter of the lens, and t is the
thickness of the planar lens. The material of lens can be
silver film or silica dielectric film, and outside the lens is
air. From the cross section profile along the x-x plane (as
shown in Figure 1(b)), we can see the lens consists of
many Ag/Air/Ag waveguide (like a metal-insulator-metal
(MIM) structure) array or Silica/Air/Silica waveguide
(a)
(b)
Figure 1. (a) A schematic of the investigated subwavlength
planar metallic lens, and rings have different widths; (b) the
cross section view along x-x plane.

Three-Dimensional Planar Metallic Lenses Based on Concentric
Rings with Modulated Subwavelength Width
487
array with fixed thickness and tuning width. Each indi-
vidual silver ring’s width is smaller than the incident
wavelength; thus it can be treated as a plasmonic wave-
guide. As an incident electromagnetic wave meets the
ring, it will be converted into SPPs mode, and transmit-
ted along the waveguide, and then decoupled back to an
electromagnetic mode with a phase delay upon exiting
the ring (a lens’s exiting plane). The complex propaga-
tion constant β, which is related to the phase change of
the electromagnetic wave after it passes through the ring
structure, can be expressed as [17,18]:



22
0
2222
00
tanh 2
d
mdd
kw
kk

m



 
(2)
where k0 = 2π/λ0 is wave vector of light in free space, and
εm and d
are the relative dielectric constant of the
metal medium and the dielectric inside the ring (in this
study εd = 1 for air), and w is the ring width. The real and
imaginary parts of the effective refractive index neff, de-
fined to be β/k0, determine the phase velocity and the
propagation loss of the SPP modes, respectively. Besides,
the previous researches have shown that the electric field
relative phase at the center of the metal groove exit
should be a function of groove depth [12]. So the disper-
sion relation between the effective refractive index, rela-
tive phase, and ring structures implies that the phase de-
lay can be modulated by tuning both ring width and
depth.
2
d
n  
3. Numerical Results and Discussion
In this paper, the three-dimensional electromagnetic dif-
fraction problem in a system of a planar lens is sche-
matically shown in Figure 1. For SPMLs, we use silver,
and for SPDLs, we use silica glass. The two sides of the
lens is air. All of the simulation used the three-dimen-
sional finite-difference time-domain method, and the
boundary condition is set to the perfect matching layers.
The wavelength of incident linear polarized light is 633
nm, and in the visible light range, silver has a negative
dielectric constant [19], and the glass has a positive di-
electric constant. So the used metal is Ag with εm =
−15.924 + i1.076, and the relative dielectric constant of
the used dielectric SiO2 is 2.126 at the wavelength of 633
nm, respectively.
3.1. Numerical Results
The parameters of the lens are as follows: the diameter of
the lens D = 8 μm, the designed focal length f = 1.6 μm
and the thickness of rings t = 200 nm. The maximum ring
size and the minimum ring size are 600 nm, and 50 nm,
respectively. Accordingly, the maximum air width and
the minimum one are 300 nm, and 60 nm, respectively.
In this study, we define the Depth of Focus (DOF) as a
region over which the intensity is greater than 80% of the
maximum intensity along the optical axis, and the focal
shift (Δf) can be defined as the value that denotes the
difference between the position of the maximum irradi-
ance position along the light axis and the geometric focal
length f (f = 1.6 μm) defined as in Equation (1).
We demonstrate beam focusing by the SPML. The
magnitude and profile of electric field intensity focused
by the SPML is shown in Figure 2(a), which can give a
global review of focusing characteristics for the SPML.
A clear-cut focus appears about 1.88 µm away from the
exit surface, which is a little larger than the designed
focal length 1.6 µm. This result clearly verifies the feasi-
bility of the SPML. Furthermore, Figure 2(b) shows the
profile of electric field intensity focused by the SPDL
with the same structure sizes as the SPML, and the focal
length is about 1.84 µm. Both the metallic lens and the
dielectric lens can focus the light well. Figure 2(d) and
(e) show the focal spot intensity along the real focal
plane (z = 1.88 µm for the SPML, and z = 1.84 µm for
the SPDL) of the metallic lens and the dielectric lens,
respectively. In order to reveal the focusing performance
of lenses more clearly, the electric field intensity along z
(x = y = 0) direction (the optical axis), and along x (y = 0,
z is equal to the real focal position), for the SPDL and the
SPML are shown in Figures 2(c) and (f), respectively.
And DOF, the focal shift, FWHM and the Peak value of
the SPDL are 0.47 µm, 0.24 µm, 0.42 µm (0.66λ0), and
8.8 units, respectively. The same parameters for the
SPML are 0.58 µm, 0.28 µm, 0.31 µm (0.49λ0), and 18.8
units, respectively. It is worth noting that, although there
are many opaque metal rings on the SPML, the peak in-
tensity of the SPML at the focal plane is much higher
than that of the SPDL (about 2.14 times), and also, the
FWHM of the SPML is narrower than that of the SPDL
(0.31 µm for the SPML, and 0.42 µm for the SPDL, re-
spectively). Both the metallic lens and the dielectric lens
has the same profile structure and the same ring distribu-
tion which means two lenses have the same waveguide
structures, but one is a MIM waveguide and the other is a
dielectric waveguide. Two lenses are assumed to have
200 nm thickness, and the different thickness will pro-
duce different phase delay and the loss, so will have an
important influence on the focal performances.
3.2. Comparison of Results
In order to make an insightful comparison between fo-
cusing behaviors of SPDLs and SPMLs with different
coating thickness, the next simulations are carried out

Three-Dimensional Planar Metallic Lenses Based on Concentric
Rings with Modulated Subwavelength Width
488
Figure 2. Electric fie ld intensity distributions |Ex|2 for different subwave length lenses: (a) For the SPML in xz plane; (b) For
the SPDL in xz plane; (c) Axial |Ex|2 distributions along z (x = y = 0) direction; (d) For the SPML in xy plane (z = 1.88 µm); (e)
For the SPDL in xy plane (z = 1.84 µm); and (f) |Ex|2 distributions along x direction at the real focal plane for SPML and
SPDL, respectively. The gray rectangular blocks drawn in (a) are the cross section of the SPML, and the cyan ones drawn in
(b) are the cross section of the SPDL, respectively.
using Ag film and SiO2 film whose thicknesses change
from 50 to 400 nm, with 50 nm space. Figures 3(a) and
(b) depict the axial |Ex|2 distributions along z (x = y = 0)
direction, and transverse |Ex|2 distributions along x direc-
tion at the real focal plane from SPMLs with various
thickness of silver, respectively. And Figures 3(c) and (d)
depict the axial |Ex|2 distributions and transverse |Ex|2
distributions along x direction at the real focal plane from
SPDLs with various thickness of silica, respectively. It is
obviously seen that there are certain distinctions for dif-
ferent thickness and different material, respectively.
To denote these distinctions more clearly, relevant
analysis parameters, such as DOF, the focal shift,
FWHM, and the peak intensity have been plotted as a
function of thickness, as shown in Figures 4(a)-(d). It is
observed from Figure 4(a) that the deviation of DOF
shows little librations with different film thickness, and
DOF of silver lenses are larger than those of silica lenses,
which means SPMLs are more suitable for high-precision
optical alignment systems, etc. Figure 4(b) shows that
when increasing film thickness, the focal shift will de-
crease and the real focal length will be close to the de-
signed value. To these phenomena, we think, to both kinds
of lenses, there are many subwavelength profiles on the
silver film or the silica film, and they form many nano
waveguide structures, where electromagnetic waves will
produce a complex coupling effect among SPPs, dif-
fracted evanescent waves and propagated electromag-
netic waves. When we increase the thickness, the length
of waveguide will also increase, so the focal shift will
decrease. But for SPMLs, due to SPPs and loss of metal,
when the thickness is larger than 250 nm, the focal shift
will increase a litter with increasing silver thickness. This
can also explain the phenomenon in Figure 4(c), which
shows that when increasing silica thickness, the peak
intensity increases for SPDLs, but the peak intensity of
SPMLs increases firstly, and when thickness is larger
than 200 nm, the peak intensity of SPDLs will decrease
with increasing silver thickness. To SPMLs, when thick-
ness is under a certain value, the loss of metal will be low,
and the coupling effect among SPPs, evanescent waves
and propagated waves will play a main role for lens per-
formances, and get a better focusing behavior with higher
peak value and a narrower FWHM (as shown in Figure
4(d)), but when the thickness is larger enough (for exam-
ple larger than about 200 nm in this design case), the loss
of metal will spoil performances of the lens, and the peak
intensity will decrease. To SPDLs, the loss of silica in
visible range can be neglected, and there are no SPPs also,
so the coupling effect between evanescent waves and
propagated waves will determine the final focusing per-
formances of the lens [20]. When increasing silica thick-
ness, the phase delay at the exit of the lens will be close
to Equation (1), and the peak intensity will increase. But
with a deeper waveguide, the aspect ratio will be larger,
which is not easy to fabricatio. n

Three-Dimensional Planar Metallic Lenses Based on Concentric
Rings with Modulated Subwavelength Width
489
Figure 3. The electric field intensity distribution in cross sections of the focus alone the z direction (a) and x direction at the
real focal plane (b), with different silver thickness for SPMLs, and the electric field intensity distribution in cross sections of
the focus alone the z direction (c) and x direction at the real focal plane (d), with different silica thickness for SPDLs, under
the illumination of 633 nm plane wave.
Figure 4. The focusing characteristics of SPDLs (Silica) and SPMLs (Silver) as a function of thickness: (a) DOF; (b) Focal
hift; (c) Peak intensity; (d) FWHM. s

Three-Dimensional Planar Metallic Lenses Based on Concentric
Rings with Modulated Subwavelength Width
490
According to analysis results mentioned above, it is
evident that SPMLs can indeed get better focusing per-
formances and have the advantages of better spatial re-
solution (narrower FWHM), larger peak intensity, and
longer DOF than SPDLs under certain lens thickness.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, we have present a kind of Subwavelength
Planar Metallic Lenses (SPMLs) to realize far-field optical
focusing in the visible range. The SPML is designed
based on the conventional Subwavelength Planar Dielec-
tric Lens (SPDL), and has concentric rings with modu-
lated width in the silver film. The focusing characteristics,
such as DOF, the focal shift, FWHM, and the peak inten-
sity, of both planar silver lenses and planar silica lenses,
have been analyzed with the same rings structure and
different film thickness. Compared with the SPDL that is
no opaque coating, the SPML can support higher inten-
sity focal spot, narrower full-width half-maximum beam
width, and longer depth of focus at the focal region under
certain lens thickness due to the coupling of SPPs, dif-
fracted evanescent waves and propagated electromag-
netic waves. It is clear that this kind of new SPMLs may
have a good potential for applications in surface optical
and optoelectronic integration systems, photonic and plas-
monic integrated devices, etc.
5. Acknowledgements
This research is supported by Open Research Fund of
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves (K201217)
and by Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Pro-
gram of Higher Education (20091102120020).
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