Far-field optical microscope with nanometer-scale resolution

Abstract

The resolution of far-field optical microscopes, which rely on propagating optical modes, is widely believed to be limited because of diffraction to a value on the order of a half-wavelength $\lambda /2$ of the light used. Although immersion microscopes have slightly improved resolution on the order of $\lambda /2n$, the increased resolution is limited by the small range of refractive indices n of available transparent materials. Here we demonstrate a new far-field optical microscope design, which is capable of reaching nanometer-scale resolution. This microscope uses the fact that the effective refractive index $n_{eff}$ of a planar dielectric lens or mirror placed on a metal surface may reach extremely large values, up to $10^3$, as seen by propagating surface optical modes (plasmons). In our design a magnified planar image produced originally by surface plasmons in the metal plane is viewed by a regular microscope. Thus, the theoretical diffraction limit on resolution is pushed down to nanometer-scale $\lambda /2n_{eff}$ values. Used in reverse, such a microscope may become an optical lithography tool with nanometer-scale spatial resolution.

Submitted to Phys.Rev.Letters, 14 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Surface plasmon toy-model of a rotating black hole
• Linear and nonlinear optics of surface plasmon toy-models of black holes and wormholes
• Nonlinear optics of surface plasmon toy black holes

Cited by in corpus (23)

• A single-photon transistor using nano-scale surface plasmons
• Magnifying superlens in the visible frequency range
• Strongly interacting photons in one-dimensional continuum
• Strong coupling of single emitters to surface plasmons
• Plasmonic Luneburg and Eaton Lenses
• Quantum emitters coupled to surface plasmons of a nano-wire: A Green function approach
• Surface plasmon Fourier optics
• Finite element modeling of spontaneous emission of a quantum emitter at nanoscale proximity to plasmonic waveguides
• Scattering-free plasmonic optics with anisotropic metamaterials
• Immersion microscopy based on photonic crystal materials
• Photonic hook plasmons: a new curved surface wave
• Surface plasmon dielectric waveguides
• Quasi-planar optics: computing light propagation and scattering in planar waveguide arrays
• Dynamically reconfigurable directionality of plasmon-based single photon sources
• Surface Plasmon Polariton microscope with Parabolic Reflectors
• Comment on "Far-field microscopy with a nanometer-scale resolution based on the in-plane image magnification by surface plasmon polaritons"
• Multi-qubit quantum phase gates based on surface plasmons of a nanosphere
• Remote lensless focusing of a light beam
• Broadband Transformation Optics Devices
• Lacunas in the optical force induced by quantum fluctuations of quasicontinuum of multipole plasmons
• Kinetic theory of surface plasmon polariton in semiconductor nanowires
• Plasmonics of non-noble metals
• Electrical generation of surface plasmon polaritons in plasmonic heterostructures