Toward the development of a Three-Dimensional Mid–Field Microscope

Toward the development of a Three-Dimensional Mid–Field Microscope

Garini, Y.
Kutchoukov, V.G.
Bossche, A.
Alkemade, P.F.A.
Docter, M.W.
Verbeek, P.W.
Van Vliet, L.J.
Young, I.T.

Applied Sciences

Imaging Science and Technology

2004-06-16

Recently, an extraordinary transmission of light through small holes (<200 nm) in a thin metallic film has been described. This phenomenon has been shown to be the result of the photon-plasmon interaction in thin films where a periodic structure (such as a set of holes) is embedded in the film. One of the extraordinary results is that the beam that passes through a hole has a very small diffraction in extreme contrast to the wide angle predicted by diffraction theory. Based on this effect, we propose here a new type of microscopy that we term mid-field microscopy. It combines an illumination of the sample through a metallic hole-array with far-field collection optics, a scanning mechanism and a CCD. When compared to other high resolution methods, what we suggest here is relatively simple because it is based on a thin metallic film with an array of nano-sized holes. Such a method can be widely used in high-resolution microscopy and provide a novel simple-to-use tool in many life-sciences laboratories. When compared to near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), the suggested mid-field method provides a significant improvement. This is chiefly for three reasons: 1. The penetration depth of the microscope increases from a few nanometers to a few micrometers, hence the name mid-field microscope. 2. It allows one to measure an image faster because the image is measured through many holes in parallel rather then through a single fiber tip used in conventional near-field microscopy, and 3. It enables one to perform three-dimensional reconstruction of images due to a semi-confocal effect. We describe the physical basics of the photon-plasmon interaction that allows the coupling of light to the surface plasmons and determines the main spectral characteristics of the device. This mechanism can be ascribed due to the super-periodicity of the electron oscillations on the metallic surface engendered by the grating-like structure of the holearray.

high resolution
near field
surface plasmons
optical microscopy

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:bb9ab7d4-dfb2-435e-96ab-552fceaaf036

SPIE

0277-786X

Proceedings of SPIE, 2004 vol. 5327

Institutional Repository

conference paper

(c)2004 Garini, Y., Kutchoukov, V.G., Bossche, A., Alkemade, P.F.A., Docter, M.W., Verbeek, P.W., Van Vliet, L.J., Young, I.T.