A new principle of subwavelength imaging based on frequency scanning is considered. It is shown that it is possible to reconstruct the spatial profile of an external field exciting an array (or coupled arrays) of subwavelength-sized resonant particles with a frequency scan over the whole band of resonating array modes. During the scan it is enough to measure and store the values of the near field at one or at most two points. After the scan the distribution of the near field can be reconstructed with simple post-processing. The proposed near-field microscope has no moving parts.
Microsphere-based subwavelength imaging technique was first demonstrated in 2011. After nearly a decade of efforts, such technique has spawned numerous interests in fields such as laser nano-machining, imaging, sensing and biological detection. For wider industrial scale application of the technique, a robust, low-cost objective lens incorporating microsphere lens is highly desired and sought by many researchers. In this work, we demonstrate a unibody microscope objective lens formed by tipping a high-index microsphere onto a Plano-Convex lens and subsequently fitting them into a conventional …
Scanning laser confocal holographic microscopy using a spatial heterodyne detection method is presented. Spatial heterodyne detection technique employs a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with the reference beam frequency shifted by two acousto-optic modulators (AOM) relative to the object beam frequency. Different from the traditional temporal heterodyne detection technique in which hundreds temporal samples are taken at each scanning point to achieve the complex signal, the spatial heterodyne detection technique generates spatial interference fringes by use of a linear tempo-spatial relation provi…
Nearly twenty years ago, following a sixty year struggle, scientists succeeded in correcting the bane of electron lenses, spherical aberration, using electromagnetic aberration correction. However, such correctors necessitate re-engineering of the electron column, additional space, a power supply, water cooling, and other requirements. Here, we show how modern nanofabrication techniques can be used to surpass the resolution of an uncorrected scanning transmission electron microscope more simply by sculpting a foil of material into a refractive corrector that negates spherical aberration. This …
We report on the 3-dimensional imaging of biological cells including living neurons by a recently developed fibered interferometric Scanning Optical Microscope. The topography and surface structure of mouse fibroblasts and hippocampal neurons are clearly revealed. This straightforward technique allows fast, high resolution observation of samples in liquids without lengthy alignment procedures or costly components.
We describe a method to map the standing-wave pattern inside a Fabry-Perot optical cavity with sub-wavelength resolution by perturbing it with a commercially available scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) tip. The method is applied to a fiber Fabry-Perot microcavity. We demonstrate its use to determine the relative position of the antinodes at two different wavelengths. In addition, we use the SNOM tip as a point-like source allowing precise positioning of a microscope objective with respect to the cavity mode.
Near-field optical microscopes with two independent tips for simultaneous excitation and detection can be essential tools for studying localized optical phenomena on the subwavelength scale. Here, we report on the implementation of a fully automated and robust dual-tip scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM), in which the excitation tip is stationary, while the detection tip automatically scans the surrounding area. To monitor and control the distance between the two probes, mechanical interactions due to shear forces are used. We experimentally investigate suitable scan parameters and f…
Using a two-dipole model of an optical near-field of Scanning Near-field Optical Microscope tip, i. e. taking into account contributions of magnetic and electric dipoles, we propose and analyze a new type of 3D optical nanotrap found for certain relations between electric and magnetic dipoles. Electric field attains a minimum value in vacuum in the vicinity of the tip and hence such a trap is quite suitable for manipulations with cold atoms.
Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is traditionally based on very sharp tips, where the small size of the apex is critical for resolution. This paradigm is about to shift, since a novel generation of planar probes (color centers in diamond, superconducting sensors and single electron transistors) promises to image small electric and magnetic fields with hitherto inaccessible sensitivity. To date, much effort has been put into fabricating these planar sensors on tip-like structures. This compromises performance and poses a considerable engineering challenge, which is mastered by only a few laborat…
We describe a two-color pump-probe scanning magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) microscope which we have developed to investigate electron spin phenomena in semiconductors at cryogenic temperatures with picosecond time and micrometer spatial resolution. The key innovation of our microscope is the usage of an ultrafast `white light' supercontinuum fiber-laser source which provides access to the whole visible and near-infrared spectral range. Our Kerr microscope allows for the independent selection of the excitation and detection energy while avoiding the necessity to synchronize the pulse trains…
The limited resolution of a conventional optical microscope stems from the fact that the subwavelength information of an object is carried by evanescent waves, which exponentially decays in space and cannot reach the imaging plane. We introduce here a metamaterial solid immersion lens (mSIL), which utilizes closely-packed high-index nanoparticles as a composite media to effectively convert and transport evanescent waves from near-field to far-field. About 20% of evanescent wave energy of an ideal point source can be directed into far-field by mSIL. This has led to the exceptional imaging perfo…
In this work we report a theoretical study of the lateral resolution granted by a simple glass microcylinder. In this 2D study, we had in mind the 3D analogue -- a microsphere whose ability to form a deeply subwavelength and strongly magnified image of submicron objects has been known since 2011. Conventionally, the microscope in which such the image is observed is tuned so that to see the areas behind the microsphere. This corresponds to the location of the virtual source formed by the microsphere at a distance longer than the distance of the real source to the miscroscope. Recently, we theor…
In this paper we suggest and theoretically study a tapered plasmonic nanostructure which connects the incident wave beam with a subwavelength spatial region where the field is locally enhanced in a broad frequency range or for different operation frequencies. This spatial region has a frequency stable location near the contour of the tapered structure. This results from a special waveguide mode which can also exist in the tapered structure. We foresee many possible applications for our structure from prospective near-field scanning optical microscopes to interconnects between conventional opti…
We propose a mechanism for subwavelength focusing at optical frequencies based on the use of a tapered microtube fabricated from a glass capillary tube. Using coherent illumination at 671nm and a near-field scanning optical microscope probe which was mounted on a 3-axis piezo nanopositioning stage, a sequence of 2-D intensity profiles were obtained. Our experimental results reveal the smallest focal spot with a near diffraction-limited full width at half-maximum of ~435nm(0.65λ)at a distance of ~1.47μm (2.2λ) from the output endface of microtube. The experimental results are in excellent agree…
We present the experimental reconstruction of sub-wavelength features from the far-field of sparse optical objects. We show that it is sufficient to know that the object is sparse, and only that, and recover 100 nm features with the resolution of 30 nm, for an illuminating wavelength of λ=532 nm. Our technique works in real-time, requires no scanning, and can be implemented in all existing microscopes - optical and non-optical.
3D printing allows rapid fabrication of complex objects from digital designs. One 3D-printing process, direct laser writing, polymerises a light-sensitive material by steering a focused laser beam through the shape of the object to be created. The highest-resolution direct laser writing systems use a femtosecond laser to effect two-photon polymerisation. The focal (polymerisation) point is steered over the shape of the desired object with mechanised stages or galvanometer-controlled mirrors. Here we report a new high-resolution direct laser writing system that employs a resonant mirror scanner…
We present a direct experimental investigation of the optical field distribution around a suspended tapered optical nanofiber by means of a fluorescent scanning probe. Using a 100 nm diameter fluorescent bead as a probe of the field intensity, we study interferences made by a nanofiber (400 nm diameter) scattering a plane wave (568 nm wavelength). Our scanning fluorescence near-field microscope maps the optical field over 36 $μ$m$^2$, with $λ/ 5$ resolution, from contact with the surface of the nanofiber to a few micrometers away. Comparison between experiments and Mie scattering theory allows…
Nonlinear optical microscopy allows rapid high-resolution microscopy with image contrast generated from intrinsic properties of the sample. Established modalities such as multiphoton excited fluorescence and second/third-harmonic generation can be combined with other nonlinear techniques, such as coherent Raman spectroscopy which typically allow chemical imaging of a single resonant vibrational mode of a sample. Here, we utilize a single ultrafast laser source to obtain broadband coherent Raman spectra on a microscope, together with other nonlinear microscopy approaches on the same instrument.…
We consider the numerical optimization of performance for a computational extension of a confocal microscope. Using a system where the pinhole detector is replaced with a detector array, we seek to exploit this additional information for each point in the scan. We derive an optimal estimate of the light at focus which minimizes the contribution of out-of-focus light. We estimate the amount of improvement that would be theoretically possible in point-scanning and line-scanning systems and demonstrate with simulation. We find that even with a large degree of regularization, a significant improve…
Standing-wave excitation of fluorescence is highly desirable in optical microscopy because it improves the axial resolution. We demonstrate here that multiplanar excitation of fluorescence by a standing wave can be produced in a single-spot laser scanning microscope by placing a plane reflector close to the specimen. We report that the relative intensities in each plane of excitation depend on the Stokes shift of the fluorochrome. We show by the use of dyes specific for the cell membrane how standing-wave excitation can be exploited to generate precise contour maps of the surface membrane of r…
Imaging of the optical properties of individual nanosystems beyond fluorescence can provide a wealth of information. However, the minute signals for absorption and dispersion are challenging to observe, and only specialized techniques requiring sophisticated noise rejection are available. Here we use signal enhancement in a scanning optical microcavity to demonstrate ultra-sensitive imaging. Harnessing multiple interactions of probe light with a sample within an optical resonator, we achieve a 1700-fold signal enhancement compared to diffraction-limited microscopy. We demonstrate quantitative …
In this work, we propose a structured illumination (SI) method based on a two-photon excitation (TPE) scanning laser beam. Advantages of TPE methods include optical sectioning, low photo-toxicity, and robustness in the face of sample induced scattering. We designed a novel multi-spot point spread function (PSF) for a fast, two-photon scanning SIM microscope. Our multi-spot PSF is generated with a phase retrieval algorithm. We show how to obtain the phase distribution and then simulate the effect of this distribution on a spatial light modulator (SLM), which produces the multi-spot PSF in the o…
Here, we introduce and experimentally demonstrate optical amplification and stimulated emission from a single optically pumped molecular tunneling junction of a scanning tunneling microscope. The gap between a sharp gold tip and a flat gold substrate covered with a self-assembled monolayer of 5-chloro-2-mercaptobenzothiazole molecules forms an extremely small optical gain medium. When electrons tunnel from the molecules highest occupied molecular orbital to the tip, holes are left behind. These can be repopulated by hot electrons induced by the laser-driven plasmon oscillation on the metal sur…
