Near-Field Microscopy Through a SiC Superlens

Taubner, Thomas; Korobkin, Dmitriy; Urzhumov, Yaroslav; Shvets, Gennady; Hillenbrand, Rainer

doi:10.1126/science.1131025

Cited by 552 publications

(397 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…[28][29][30][31] In ref. 30, using a silver thin film to enhance the evanescent wave under the transverse magnetic (TM) polarization condition, sub-diffraction-limited imaging with 60 nanometre half-pitch resolution, or one-sixth of the illumination wavelength was accomplished.…”

Section: Negative Index Metamaterials and Applications Of Metamaterialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metamaterials: a new frontier of science and technology

Liu¹,

2011

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Metamaterials, artificial composite structures with exotic material properties, have emerged as a new frontier of science involving physics, material science, engineering and chemistry. This critical review focuses on the fundamentals, recent progresses and future directions in the research of electromagnetic metamaterials. An introduction to metamaterials followed by a detailed elaboration on how to design unprecedented electromagnetic properties of metamaterials is presented. A number of intriguing phenomena and applications associated with metamaterials are discussed, including negative refraction, sub-diffraction-limited imaging, strong optical activities in chiral metamaterials, interaction of meta-atoms and transformation optics. Finally, we offer an outlook on future directions of metamaterials research including but not limited to three-dimensional optical metamaterials, nonlinear metamaterials and ''quantum'' perspectives of metamaterials (142 references).

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Section: Negative Index Metamaterials and Applications Of Metamaterialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metamaterials: a new frontier of science and technology

Liu¹,

2011

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“…This has provided tremendous opportunities for novel lens designs with unprecedented resolution 9 . Initiated by Pendry's seminal concept of the perfect lens 10 , a number of superlenses were demonstrated with resolving powers beyond the diffraction limit [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . The optical superlens first achieved sub-diffraction-limited resolution by enhancing evanescent waves through a slab of silver 11 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Hyperlenses and metalenses for far-field super-resolution imaging

2012

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The resolution of conventional optical lens systems is always hampered by the diffraction limit. Recent developments in artificial metamaterials provide new avenues to build hyperlenses and metalenses that are able to image beyond the diffraction limit. Hyperlenses project super-resolution information to the far field through a magnification mechanism, whereas metalenses not only super-resolve subwavelength details but also enable optical Fourier transforms. Recently, there have been numerous designs for hyperlenses and metalenses, bringing fresh theoretical and experimental advances, though future directions and challenges remain to be overcome.O ptical microscopy has revolutionized many fields such as microelectronics, biology and medicine. However, the resolution of a conventional optical lens system is always limited by diffraction to about half the wavelength of light. This diffraction barrier arises from the fact that subwavelength information from an object is carried by high spatial-frequency evanescent waves, which only exist in the near field. To overcome this diffraction limit, pioneering work has been carried out, including near-field scanning microscopy 1 , as well as fluorescence-based imaging methods 2,3 . These scanning-or random sampling-based nonprojection techniques achieve super-resolving power by sacrificing imaging speed, making them uncompetitive for dynamic imaging.Lens-based projection imaging remains the best option for high-speed microscopy. Immersion techniques have been proposed to enhance resolution, but they are limited by the low refractive indices of natural materials 4 . Emerging within the last decade, the fields of plasmonics and metamaterials provide solutions for engineering extraordinary material properties not found in nature, such as negative index of refraction 5,6 or strongly anisotropic materials 7,8 . This has provided tremendous opportunities for novel lens designs with unprecedented resolution 9 . Initiated by Pendry's seminal concept of the perfect lens 10 , a number of superlenses were demonstrated with resolving powers beyond the diffraction limit [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . The optical superlens first achieved sub-diffraction-limited resolution by enhancing evanescent waves through a slab of silver 11 . As the evanescent-field enhancement is enabled by surface plasmon excitation, the subwavelength image is typically limited to the near field of the metal slab. However, the hyperlens-a metamaterial-based lens-can send super-resolution images into the far field by introducing a magnification mechanism. This has been considered as one of the most promising candidates for practical applications since its first demonstration in 2007 (refs 13,14). Recently, various other metamaterial-based lenses, that is, metalenses, have also been developed with both

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Section: Pacs Numbersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Utilizing plasmonic materials with a negative dielectric permittivity circumvents diffraction limit because interfaces between polaritonic (ǫ < 0) and dielectric (ǫ > 0) materials support surface plasmons that can be confined to sub-λ dimensions. Examples of diffraction-beating devices based on plasmonics include superlenses [9,10,11,12], coupled-sphere waveguides [13], and sharp focusing tips [14].High losses associated with surface plasmonics are hampering many of these applications.Another challenge yet to be met is designing practical imaging modalities based on sub-λ plasmons that convert near-field electromagnetic (EM) perturbations into the far field where they can be easily observed. In this Letter we propose a solution to these two problems: a tapered multi-wire array supporting sub-wavelength transverse electromagnetic (TEM) waves.…”

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Guiding, Focusing, and Sensing on the Subwavelength Scale Using Metallic Wire Arrays

et al. 2007

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We show that two-dimensional arrays of thin metallic wires can guide transverse electromagnetic (TEM) waves and focus them to the spatial dimensions much smaller that the vacuum wavelength. This guiding property is retained for the tapered wire bundles which can be used as multichannel TEM endoscopes: they capture a detailed electromagnetic field profile created by deeply sub-wavelength features of the studied sample and magnify it for observation. The resulting imaging method is superior to the conventional scanning microscopy because of the parallel nature of the image acquisition by multiple metal wires. Possible applications include terahertz and mid-infrared endoscopy with nanoscale resolution. PACS numbers:Diffraction of light is the major obstacle to a variety of applications requiring concentrating optical energy in a small spatial volume: light cannot be confined to dimensions much smaller than half of its wavelength λ/2. Applications that would benefit from overcoming the diffraction limit include nonlinear spectroscopy and harmonics generation [1,2,3,4], sub-wavelength optical waveguiding [5,6,7], and nanofabrication [8]. Utilizing plasmonic materials with a negative dielectric permittivity circumvents diffraction limit because interfaces between polaritonic (ǫ < 0) and dielectric (ǫ > 0) materials support surface plasmons that can be confined to sub-λ dimensions. Examples of diffraction-beating devices based on plasmonics include superlenses [9,10,11,12], coupled-sphere waveguides [13], and sharp focusing tips [14].High losses associated with surface plasmonics are hampering many of these applications.Another challenge yet to be met is designing practical imaging modalities based on sub-λ plasmons that convert near-field electromagnetic (EM) perturbations into the far field where they can be easily observed. In this Letter we propose a solution to these two problems: a tapered multi-wire array supporting sub-wavelength transverse electromagnetic (TEM) waves. Examples of the multi-wire endoscopes based on such arrays (un-tapered and tapered) are shown in Fig. 1. We have demonstrated that the tapered endoscope can accomplish two tasks: (i) creating near the base of an endoscope a magnified image of deeply sub-wavelength objects (metal spheres, in our case) placed at the endoscope's tip [see Fig. 3(a)], and (ii) creating near the tip of an endoscope a de-magnified image of a mask placed at the endoscope's base [see Fig. 3(b)]. Accomplishing the first task is necessary for making a sub-λ sensor while accomplishing the second one -for making a sub-λ lithographic tool.Single metallic wires and coaxial wire cones have recently attracted considerable attention as low-loss waveguides [15,16] of TEM-like modes of THz and far-infrared radiation. Using a single wire waveguide has its limitations: for example, if a wire is used as a high spatial resolution sensor, then only a single bit of information can be collected without scanning the wire. We demonstrate that a bundle of closely spaced wires can act as a mul...

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Near-Field Microscopy Through a SiC Superlens

Cited by 552 publications

References 7 publications

Metamaterials: a new frontier of science and technology

Metamaterials: a new frontier of science and technology

Hyperlenses and metalenses for far-field super-resolution imaging

Guiding, Focusing, and Sensing on the Subwavelength Scale Using Metallic Wire Arrays

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