Realization of an Airy light-sheet source in FDTD for scattering analysis of irregular Mie particles.

Abstract

The Airy light-sheet is known for its unique properties, such as non-diffraction, self-acceleration, and self-healing, making it valuable in imaging and particle manipulation. However, most existing scattering studies focus on symmetric spherical particles using analytical models, overlooking irregular particles commonly found in biological systems. In this work, we develop a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) framework to construct a two-dimensional Airy light-sheet using the vector angular spectrum method and the total-field/scattered-field (TF/SF) technique. The reconstructed Airy light-sheet in FDTD agrees well with theoretical predictions. We further analyze near-field scattering from two representative models-the square-shaped particle and the red blood cell particle under varying parameters. This study provides a flexible tool for structured light interaction with irregular particles, expanding FDTD applications in biophotonics and optical trapping.