Surface Plasmon Scanning Microscopy

The use of surface plasmon resonance measurements for the microscopical imaging of surfaces and thin films has been investigated. Theoretical results are presented for sensitivity optimization and focussed beam measurement. Experimental results are presented for scanned beam and plane-wave imaging of silver surfaces and superimposed dielectric layers. Thickness sensitivity of about 3 angstroms has been achieved, with lateral resolution better than 20 microns.