Superdirectional scattering enabled by degenerate ε-near-zero electric resonances
Phys. Rev. A 112, 033525 – Published 17 September, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/lq78-xr44
Abstract
Controlling both the magnitude and directionality of light scattering by subwavelength objects plays a crucial role in enhancing light-matter interactions and has great potential in antenna design, sensing, and optical displays. Superscattering, induced by degenerate resonances, allows the scattering cross section of subwavelength structures to surpass the fundamental single-channel limit. However, most existing superscattering techniques depend on complex multilayered structures and primarily aim to enhance scattering magnitudes. In this work, we propose a single-layer plasmonic core-shell nanoparticle that achieves superdirectional scattering without relying on high-permittivity materials and magnetic resonances. We demonstrate that for nanoparticles with a thin plasmonic nanoshell, both dielectric dipolar and quadrupolar resonances occur at nearly the same frequency, where the permittivity of the plasmonic shell approaches zero (degenerate epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) resonances), enabling superscattering in this simple nanoparticle. Furthermore, by tuning the amplitudes of these ENZ resonances, we show that both zero-backward and super-forward scattering can be realized. This approach, relying solely on pure electric ENZ modes in a simple core-shell nanoparticle, offers a new pathway for achieving superdirectional scattering and holds significant potential for applications in photovoltaic devices, biosensors, and nanoantennas.