Electric and magnetic optical response of dielectric nanospheres: Optical forces and scattering anisotropy

Abstract Nanospheres made of non-magnetic materials are shown to present non-conventional scattering properties similar to those previously reported for somewhat hypothetical magnetodielectric particles. We find a wide window in the near-infrared, where light scattering by lossless submicrometer semiconductor nanospheres is fully described by their induced electric and magnetic dipoles. The interference between electric and magnetic dipolar fields is shown to lead to anisotropic angular distributions of scattered intensity, including zero backward and almost zero forward scattered intensities at specific wavelengths. Interesting new consequences for the corresponding optical forces are derived from the interplay, both in and out of resonance, between the electric- and magnetic-induced dipoles.