Chapter 9
Usage of Silicon for Label-Free
Super-Resolved Imaging
Hadar Pinhas, Yossef Danan, Amihai Meiri, Omer Wagner, Asaf Shahmoon,
Tali Ilovitsh, Yehonatan Ramon, Dror Malka, Meir Danino, Moshe Sinvani
and Zeev Zalevsky
Abstract In this chapter, we present a summary of research that uses silicon to
enhance the imaging resolution and to push it toward the region of nanoscopy. The
silicon has a nonlinear effect called the plasma dispersion effect (PDE), which can be
used instead of the fluorescent dye in order to realize a stimulated emission depletion
(STED) like microscopic imaging configuration. The silicon can be encapsulated into
nanoparticles while the encapsulation may be biocompatible and yield the first step
toward label-free bioimaging. The encapsulation may even be metallic to enhance
the obtainable effect and to yield resolution enhancement at lower requirements from
the pump beam. The silicon can even be used directly as a wafer but then the superresolving imaging is mainly aimed at failure analysis of micro-electronic circuitry.
When the silicon is encapsulated with metallic layer or when it is in the form of
a wafer, while being illuminated with a pump beam (in visible wavelength being
absorbed by the silicon) it modifies the imaging point spread function (PSF) of the
probe beam (a near infra-red wavelength) into a doughnut-like shape, through the
utilization of the PDE. This modified PSF has spatial components smaller than the
diffraction limit, and by scanning the sample with it, super resolution can be achieved.
H. Pinhas · Y. Danan · A. Meiri · O. Wagner · A. Shahmoon · T. Ilovitsh · Y. Ramon · D. Malka ·
M. Danino · M. Sinvani · Z. Zalevsky (B)
Faculty of Engineering, Bar-Ilan University, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel
e-mail: Zeev.zalevsky@biu.ac.il
H. Pinhas · Y. Danan · A. Meiri · O. Wagner · A. Shahmoon · T. Ilovitsh · Y. Ramon · Z. Zalevsky
The Bar-Ilan Institute of Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials, Bar Ilan University, 5290002
Ramat-Gan, Israel
D. Malka
Faculty of Engineering, Holon Institute of Technology, 5810201 Holon, Israel
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
V. Astratov (ed.), Label-Free Super-Resolution Microscopy,
Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21722-8_9
213
Usage of Silicon for Label-Free
Super-Resolved Imaging
Hadar Pinhas, Yossef Danan, Amihai Meiri, Omer Wagner, Asaf Shahmoon,
Tali Ilovitsh, Yehonatan Ramon, Dror Malka, Meir Danino, Moshe Sinvani
and Zeev Zalevsky
Abstract In this chapter, we present a summary of research that uses silicon to
enhance the imaging resolution and to push it toward the region of nanoscopy. The
silicon has a nonlinear effect called the plasma dispersion effect (PDE), which can be
used instead of the fluorescent dye in order to realize a stimulated emission depletion
(STED) like microscopic imaging configuration. The silicon can be encapsulated into
nanoparticles while the encapsulation may be biocompatible and yield the first step
toward label-free bioimaging. The encapsulation may even be metallic to enhance
the obtainable effect and to yield resolution enhancement at lower requirements from
the pump beam. The silicon can even be used directly as a wafer but then the superresolving imaging is mainly aimed at failure analysis of micro-electronic circuitry.
When the silicon is encapsulated with metallic layer or when it is in the form of
a wafer, while being illuminated with a pump beam (in visible wavelength being
absorbed by the silicon) it modifies the imaging point spread function (PSF) of the
probe beam (a near infra-red wavelength) into a doughnut-like shape, through the
utilization of the PDE. This modified PSF has spatial components smaller than the
diffraction limit, and by scanning the sample with it, super resolution can be achieved.
H. Pinhas · Y. Danan · A. Meiri · O. Wagner · A. Shahmoon · T. Ilovitsh · Y. Ramon · D. Malka ·
M. Danino · M. Sinvani · Z. Zalevsky (B)
Faculty of Engineering, Bar-Ilan University, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel
e-mail: Zeev.zalevsky@biu.ac.il
H. Pinhas · Y. Danan · A. Meiri · O. Wagner · A. Shahmoon · T. Ilovitsh · Y. Ramon · Z. Zalevsky
The Bar-Ilan Institute of Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials, Bar Ilan University, 5290002
Ramat-Gan, Israel
D. Malka
Faculty of Engineering, Holon Institute of Technology, 5810201 Holon, Israel
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
V. Astratov (ed.), Label-Free Super-Resolution Microscopy,
Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21722-8_9
213