Controllable directive radiation of a magnetic dipole above planar metal surface

Abstract

We report unidirectional radiation of a magnetic dipole above planar metal surface, the radiation direction can be manipulated via changing the distance between the dipole and the surface. This phenomenon is unique for the combination of magnetic dipole and metal surface and does not happen for linear polarized dipole on metal surface or magnetic dipole on dielectric surface. The underlining physics is analytically disclosed by the interference of two orthogonally-oriented dipole component with \pi/2 phase lag. A substantially different mechanism of introducing the vectorial nature of the dipole itself to control light emission distinguishes the present scheme from nanoantenna and provides a new degree of freedom in light emission engineering.