Near-field self-induced hollow spot through localized heating of polycarbonate/ZnS stack layer.

We have found an alternative way of achieving a doughnutlike focused spot by simply melting a subwavelength scatterer in a polycarbonate/ZnS sample. The near-field microscopy technique is used to directly measure the induced doughnut spot in the near-field regime. A numerical model based on rigorous solution of the Maxwell's equations is proposed to study the phenomena. The simulations help to understand the optical mechanism behind the spot formation.