Super-resolution microscopy by dielectric microcylinders

It is shown that super-resolution microscopy can be performed by using dielectric microcylinders. We used silica (n ~ 1.46) optical fibers, chemically etched down to ~ 7 μm diameter, placed on top of a commercial Blu-ray® disk. We clearly resolved one-dimensional arrays of 200 nm width stripes separated by 100 nm width grooves. Potential applications of this imaging technique include microfluidics and nanophotonics applications.

[1]  Arash Darafsheh,et al.  Optical super-resolution by high-index liquid-immersed microspheres , 2012 .

[2]  Hervé Rigneault,et al.  Direct imaging of photonic nanojets. , 2008, Optics express.

[3]  Olivier J. F. Martin,et al.  Scanning near-field optical microscopy with aperture probes: Fundamentals and applications , 2000 .

[4]  Nicolas Bonod,et al.  Spectral analysis of three-dimensional photonic jets. , 2008, Optics express.

[5]  M. A. Fiddy,et al.  Super-resolution imaging by high-index microspheres immersed in a liquid , 2012, 2012 14th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON).

[6]  David M. Whittaker,et al.  Optical microscopy with super-resolution by liquid-immersed high-index microspheres , 2013, Photonics West - Biomedical Optics.

[7]  Jing Jing Wang,et al.  Low divergence photonic nanojets from Si3N4 microdisks. , 2012, Optics express.

[8]  Xu Liu,et al.  Microsphere based microscope with optical super-resolution capability , 2011 .

[9]  Joerg Bewersdorf,et al.  Optical nanoscopy: from acquisition to analysis. , 2012, Annual review of biomedical engineering.

[10]  Allen Taflove,et al.  Photonic nanojet enhancement of backscattering of light by nanoparticles: a potential novel visible-light ultramicroscopy technique. , 2004, Optics express.

[11]  J. Pendry,et al.  Negative refraction makes a perfect lens , 2000, Physical review letters.

[12]  Xu Liu,et al.  Far-field super-resolution imaging using near-field illumination by micro-fiber , 2013 .

[13]  Vasily N. Astratov,et al.  Fundamentals and applications of microsphere resonator circuits , 2009, 2009 11th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks.

[14]  Arash Darafsheh,et al.  Optical super-resolution and periodical focusing effects by dielectric microspheres , 2013 .

[15]  C. Sheppard.  Cylindrical lenses--focusing and imaging: a review [Invited]. , 2013, Applied optics.

[16]  G. Kino,et al.  Solid immersion microscope , 1990 .

[17]  Zengbo Wang,et al.  Optical virtual imaging at 50 nm lateral resolution with a white-light nanoscope. , 2011, Nature communications.

[18]  Arash Darafsheh,et al.  Characterization of novel microsphere chain fiber optic tips for potential use in ophthalmic laser surgery. , 2012, Journal of biomedical optics.

[19]  V. N. Astratov,et al.  Radial polarization of periodically focused modes in chains of dielectric spheres , 2012, 2012 14th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON).

[20]  H. Ying,et al.  Contact focusing multimodal microprobes for ultraprecise laser tissue surgery , 2011, Optics express.

[21]  A. M. Kapitonov,et al.  Observation of nanojet-induced modes with small propagation losses in chains of coupled spherical cavities. , 2007, Optics letters.