Scanning Interferometric Apertureless Microscopy: Optical Imaging at 10 Angstrom Resolution

Zenhausern, Frédéric; Martin, Yves; Wickramasinghe, H. K.

doi:10.1126/science.269.5227.1083

Cited by 654 publications

(352 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Equation (17) reveals that V improves by two mechanisms. Besides the one discussed in the previous section, which we named K 2 , we note an additional term K 1 that depends on |ξ| 2 and F. For F 1, β is close to one and K 1 reduces to |ξ| 2 /F.…”

Section: Coherent Scattering Under Nanofocusingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These efforts have however suffered from the mismatch between light and nanoscale matter, which leads to a small throughput between the input and output signals. That is why coherent detection schemes, whereby input and output are in a well defined phase relationship, have found less application, although they may provide additional information [15][16][17][18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Light scattering under nanofocusing: Towards coherent nanoscopies

Mohammadi

Agio

2012

Optics Communications

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We investigate light scattering under nanofocusing in the context of coherent spectroscopy. We discuss the different mechanisms that may enhance the signal in extinction and how these depend on nanofocusing as well as on the probed system. We find that nanofocusing may improve the detection sensitivity by orders of magnitude under realistic conditions, enabling scanning implementations of coherent spectroscopy at the nanoscale.

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Section: Coherent Scattering Under Nanofocusingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light scattering under nanofocusing: Towards coherent nanoscopies

Mohammadi

Agio

2012

Optics Communications

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“…Near-field nanoscopy attracts increasing scientific attention, specifically in the implementation of infrared scattering type scanning near-field optical microscopy (IR s-SNOM) [1][2][3][4].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Far Infrared Synchrotron Near-Field Nanoimaging and Nanospectroscopy

et al. 2018

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Scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) has emerged as a powerful imaging and spectroscopic tool for investigating nanoscale heterogeneities in biology, quantum matter, and electronic and photonic devices. However, many materials are defined by a wide range of fundamental molecular and quantum states at far-infrared (FIR) resonant frequencies currently not accessible by s-SNOM. Here we show ultrabroadband FIR s-SNOM nanoimaging and spectroscopy by combining synchrotron infrared radiation with a novel fast and low-noise copper-doped germanium (Ge:Cu) photoconductive detector. This approach of FIR synchrotron infrared nanospectroscopy (SINS) extends the wavelength range of s-SNOM to 31 μm (320 cm −1 , 9.7 THz), exceeding conventional limits by an octave to lower energies. We demonstrate this new nanospectroscopic window by measuring elementary excitations of exemplary functional materials, including surface phonon polariton waves and optical phonons in oxides and layered ultrathin van der Waals materials, skeletal and conformational vibrations in molecular systems, and the highly tunable plasmonic response of graphene.

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“…The spatial resolution in NSOM is limited to 30 -50 nm by the penetration depth of light into the metal aperture. More recently, apertureless-NSOM (ANSOM) techniques were developed which leverage the strong enhancement of an externally applied optical field at the apex of a sharp tip for local excitation of the sample [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The promised advantage of ANSOM is that spatial resolution should be limited only by tip sharpness (typically 10 nm).…”

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confidence: 99%

Tip-Enhanced Fluorescence Microscopy at 10 Nanometer Resolution

et al. 2004

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We demonstrate unambiguously that the field enhancement near the apex of a laser-illuminated silicon tip decays according to a power law that is moderated by a single parameter characterizing the tip sharpness. Oscillating the probe in intermittent contact with a semiconductor nanocrystal strongly modulates the fluorescence excitation rate, providing robust optical contrast and enabling excellent background rejection. Laterally encoded demodulation yields images with <10 nm spatial resolution, consistent with independent measurements of tip sharpness. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.180801 PACS numbers: 07.79.Fc, 42.50.Hz, 61.46.+w, 78.67.Bf The potential of near-field microscopy to optically resolve structure well below the diffraction limit has excited physicists, chemists, and biologists for almost 20 years. Conventional near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) uses the light forced through a small metal aperture to locally excite or detect an optical response. The spatial resolution in NSOM is limited to 30 -50 nm by the penetration depth of light into the metal aperture. More recently, apertureless-NSOM (ANSOM) techniques were developed which leverage the strong enhancement of an externally applied optical field at the apex of a sharp tip for local excitation of the sample [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The promised advantage of ANSOM is that spatial resolution should be limited only by tip sharpness (typically 10 nm). The resolution in most previous ANSOM experiments, however, was at best marginally better than NSOM and was inferior to expectations based on tip sharpness alone. Further, the external field used to induce enhancement led to a substantial background signal and to assertions that one-photon fluorescence is not appropriate for ANSOM [12,13]. These experiments fell short of their potential because they maintained a tip-sample gap of several nanometers, and thus did not thoroughly exploit the tightly confined enhancement.Here, we demonstrate an ANSOM technique that fully exploits the available contrast and leads to spatial resolution that is limited only by tip sharpness. The problems associated with a tip-sample gap are overcome by oscillating the probe in intermittent contact with the sample. The detected signal is then composed of a modulated near-field portion that is superimposed on the far-field background. Subsequent demodulation decouples the two components and thus strongly elevates the near-field signal relative to the background. With this technique, we measured <10 nm lateral resolution via one-photon fluorescence imaging of isolated quantum dots, consistent with independent measurements of tip sharpness. The measured resolution is >3 times better than previous reports for quantum dots using one-photon fluorescence [8,9], and is 2 times better than previous measurements using higher-order optical processes (two-photon fluorescence [6], Raman scattering [4,5]) despite predictions to the contrary [12,13].To better understand the advantages of this technique and to facilitate ...

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Scanning Interferometric Apertureless Microscopy: Optical Imaging at 10 Angstrom Resolution

Cited by 654 publications

References 11 publications

Light scattering under nanofocusing: Towards coherent nanoscopies

Light scattering under nanofocusing: Towards coherent nanoscopies

Far Infrared Synchrotron Near-Field Nanoimaging and Nanospectroscopy

Tip-Enhanced Fluorescence Microscopy at 10 Nanometer Resolution

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