Abstract
We present for the first time a surface plasmon-enhanced dark-field microsphere-assisted microscopy in imaging both low-contrast dielectric objects and metallic ones. We demonstrate, using an Al patch array as the substrate, the resolution and contrast in imaging low-contrast dielectric objects are improved compared to that of the metal plate substrate and a glass slide in dark-field microscopy (DFM). 365-nm-diameter hexagonally arranged SiO nanodots assembled on the three substrates can be resolved, with the contrast varied from 0.23 to 0.96, and the 300-nm-diameter hexagonally close-packed polystyrene nanoparticles can only be discerned on the Al patch array substrate. The resolution can be further improved by using the dark-field microsphere-assisted microscopy, and an Al nanodot array with a nanodot diameter of ∼65 nm and a center-to-center spacing of 125 nm can be just resolved, which cannot be distinguished in a conventional DFM. The focusing effect of the microsphere, as well as the excitation of the surface plasmons, provides evanescent illumination with enhanced local electric field (E-field) on an object. The enhanced local E-field acts as a near-field excitation source to enhance the scattering of the object, resulting in the improvement of imaging resolution.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Subject
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Cited by
1 articles.
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