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  • Open Access

Mie voids as broadband directional light sources

Benjamin Reichel1,*, Adrià Canós Valero2, Mario Hentschel1, Harald Giessen1, and Thomas Weiss2

  • *Contact author: benjamin.reichel@pi4.uni-stuttgart.de
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Phys. Rev. B 114, 065421 – Published 21 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/v2b8-j986

Abstract

The Kerker effect arises from the interference between electric and magnetic multipoles, enabling directional light scattering in nanophotonics. However, conventional dielectric and plasmonic nanoparticles can only act as Kerker sources in narrow spectral regions, limiting their applicability. Here, we show that the recently discovered Mie voids overcome this limitation by supporting a broadband generalized Kerker effect spanning the whole visible range. We investigate the optical response of Mie voids under both plane-wave and dipolar excitation. For plane waves, the voids preferentially scatter light in the forward direction. Under dipolar excitation, the resulting radiation emission toward the void and beyond is suppressed due to destructive interference between the dipole field and the directional scattered field of the void. These findings identify Mie voids as versatile broadband directional sources, opening pathways for antenna design and energy harvesting at the nanoscale.

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Phys. Rev. B 114, 065421– Published 21 July, 2026
  • Received 18 December 2025
  • Revised 5 May 2026
  • Accepted 7 May 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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