Research highlight: how to cage a unicorn—confining light in a tiny volume

Abstract Overcoming the diffraction limit in optics is challenging and demands a profound understanding of light behavior under extreme confinement. The newly developed framework, termed singulonics, demonstrates the formation of sub-diffraction limit narwhal-shaped optical modes under specific conditions. Experimental implementation of this field confinement within a tiny sub-wavelength volume enables the acquisition of near-field super resolution images.