Chapter 13
Super-Resolution Microscopy Techniques
Based on Plasmonics and Transformation
Optics
Igor I. Smolyaninov and Vera N. Smolyaninova
Abstract Traditionally the resolution of conventional optical microscopes, which
rely on optical waves that propagate into the far field, has been limited because of
diffraction to a value on the order of a half-wavelength of the light used. Several
nonlinear optical microscopy techniques overcome this limit using photo-switching
and saturation of fluorescence. Very recently it was demonstrated that considerable
resolution enhancement may also be achieved in linear far-field microscopy by making use of recent progress in plasmonics, metamaterials and transformation optics.
We will review theoretical foundations of these techniques and present our recent
proof of principle experiments.
13.1 Introduction
Although various electron and scanning probe microscopy techniques have long surpassed the conventional optical microscope in resolving power, optical microscopy
remains invaluable in many fields of science. The practical limit to the resolution of
an optical microscope is determined by diffraction: a wave cannot be localized to
a region much smaller than half of its vacuum wavelength λ 0 /2. Immersion microscopes introduced by Abbé in the 19th century have slightly improved resolution, on
the order of λ 0 /2n, because of the shorter wavelength of light, λ 0 /n, in a medium with
refractive index n. However, immersion microscopes are limited by the small range
of refractive indices n of available natural transparent materials. For a while it was
believed that the only way to achieve nanometer-scale spatial resolution in an optical
I. I. Smolyaninov (B)
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
20742, USA
e-mail: smoly@umd.edu
Saltenna LLC, 1751 Pinnacle Drive #600, McLean, VA 22102, USA
V. N. Smolyaninova
Department of Physics Astronomy and Geosciences, Towson University, 8000 York Rd, Towson,
MD 21252, USA
© 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_13
313
Super-Resolution Microscopy Techniques
Based on Plasmonics and Transformation
Optics
Igor I. Smolyaninov and Vera N. Smolyaninova
Abstract Traditionally the resolution of conventional optical microscopes, which
rely on optical waves that propagate into the far field, has been limited because of
diffraction to a value on the order of a half-wavelength of the light used. Several
nonlinear optical microscopy techniques overcome this limit using photo-switching
and saturation of fluorescence. Very recently it was demonstrated that considerable
resolution enhancement may also be achieved in linear far-field microscopy by making use of recent progress in plasmonics, metamaterials and transformation optics.
We will review theoretical foundations of these techniques and present our recent
proof of principle experiments.
13.1 Introduction
Although various electron and scanning probe microscopy techniques have long surpassed the conventional optical microscope in resolving power, optical microscopy
remains invaluable in many fields of science. The practical limit to the resolution of
an optical microscope is determined by diffraction: a wave cannot be localized to
a region much smaller than half of its vacuum wavelength λ 0 /2. Immersion microscopes introduced by Abbé in the 19th century have slightly improved resolution, on
the order of λ 0 /2n, because of the shorter wavelength of light, λ 0 /n, in a medium with
refractive index n. However, immersion microscopes are limited by the small range
of refractive indices n of available natural transparent materials. For a while it was
believed that the only way to achieve nanometer-scale spatial resolution in an optical
I. I. Smolyaninov (B)
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
20742, USA
e-mail: smoly@umd.edu
Saltenna LLC, 1751 Pinnacle Drive #600, McLean, VA 22102, USA
V. N. Smolyaninova
Department of Physics Astronomy and Geosciences, Towson University, 8000 York Rd, Towson,
MD 21252, USA
© 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_13
313