Focusing surface plasmon and constructing central symmetry of focal field with linearly polarized light

When linearly polarized light illuminates a plasmonic lens, it is challenging to realize centrally symmetric focal spot in the near field since there is mismatch between the symmetries of the plasmonic structures and the polarization spatial distribution of the incident light. In this paper, we propose a plasmonic lens that can focus surface plasmon to a centrally symmetric field when illuminated by light with linear polarization. Remarkably, the intensity distribution of the focal field is insensitive to the polarization direction, which makes it more reliable in optical applications. Numerical simulations are used to check the performance of the proposed structure. Comparisons with two conventional plasmonic lenses are made to demonstrate its unique superiority in polarization-insensitive focusing. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.