Electromagnetic Duality Protected Scattering Properties of Nonmagnetic Particles

Optical properties of nonmagnetic structures that support artificial optically induced magnetic responses have recently attracted surging interest. Here we conduct symmetry-dictated investigations into scattering properties of nonmagnetic particles from perspectives of electromagnetic duality with discrete geometric rotations. For arbitrary scattering configurations, we reveal that far-field scattering patterns are invariant under duality transformations; in particular, this means that scattering patterns of self-dual clusters with random particle distributions are polarization independent. Based on this revelation, it is further discovered that scattering bodies of combined duality-(n-fold, n ≥ 3) rotation symmetry, for any polarizations of incident waves, exhibit also n-fold rotationally symmetric scattering patterns with zero backward components, satisfying the generalized Kerker condition of backward scattering suppression automatically. We employ both coupled dipole theory and full numerical simulations to demonstrate those scattering properties, solely based upon nonmagnetic core–shell particles that support optically induced dipolar resonances. Those substantiated scattering properties are fully induced by fundamental symmetry principles and thus can survive any non-symmetry-breaking perturbations, which may find applications in a wide range of optical devices that require intrinsically robust functionalities.