Chapter 14
Label-Free Super-Resolution Imaging
with Hyperbolic Materials
Emroz Khan and Evgenii Narimanov
Abstract Optical imaging systems based on hyperbolic materials, offer the potential
to combine subwavelength resolution with the advantage of an inherently labelfree approach. The chapter reviews recent developments in this field, in both direct
imaging and structured illumination configurations.
14.1 Introduction
Deeper understanding of biological processes generally relies on detailed information
about the dynamics in cellular structures, from the micrometer size down to the
nanoscale. However, ordinary light microscopes constrained by the diffraction limit
[1] can not resolve features that are substantially smaller than the light wavelength.
On the other hand, high energy methods such as X-ray [2] and electron microscopy,
[3] and nonlinear optical imaging, [4, 5] though offering high resolution, generally
degrade biological samples. The resulting demand for a nondestructive, low-energy
imaging methods led to the development of several new imaging systems operating
at visible wavelengths [6, 7] that can surpass the conventional diffraction limit,
culminating in 2014 Nobel Prize in chemistry for “the development of super-resolved
fluorescence microscopy.”
However, in many of these novel imaging methods, the biological sample must first
be “labelled” with the fluorescent molecules, [7] and it is the fluorescent “component”
of the sample and not the original biological tissue that is actually imaged with
super-resolution accuracy. While the methods of “tacking” a fluorescent label such
as the green fluorescent protein GFP, onto other cellular proteins, are now well
developed (and acknowledged by the 2008 Nobel Prize in biology for “the discovery
and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP”), forcing a biological protein
“to hold a glow stick” brings its own set of problems. Not only are the fluorescenceE. Khan · E. Narimanov (B)
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Birck Nanotechnology Center,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
e-mail: evgenii@purdue.edu
© 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_14
345
Label-Free Super-Resolution Imaging
with Hyperbolic Materials
Emroz Khan and Evgenii Narimanov
Abstract Optical imaging systems based on hyperbolic materials, offer the potential
to combine subwavelength resolution with the advantage of an inherently labelfree approach. The chapter reviews recent developments in this field, in both direct
imaging and structured illumination configurations.
14.1 Introduction
Deeper understanding of biological processes generally relies on detailed information
about the dynamics in cellular structures, from the micrometer size down to the
nanoscale. However, ordinary light microscopes constrained by the diffraction limit
[1] can not resolve features that are substantially smaller than the light wavelength.
On the other hand, high energy methods such as X-ray [2] and electron microscopy,
[3] and nonlinear optical imaging, [4, 5] though offering high resolution, generally
degrade biological samples. The resulting demand for a nondestructive, low-energy
imaging methods led to the development of several new imaging systems operating
at visible wavelengths [6, 7] that can surpass the conventional diffraction limit,
culminating in 2014 Nobel Prize in chemistry for “the development of super-resolved
fluorescence microscopy.”
However, in many of these novel imaging methods, the biological sample must first
be “labelled” with the fluorescent molecules, [7] and it is the fluorescent “component”
of the sample and not the original biological tissue that is actually imaged with
super-resolution accuracy. While the methods of “tacking” a fluorescent label such
as the green fluorescent protein GFP, onto other cellular proteins, are now well
developed (and acknowledged by the 2008 Nobel Prize in biology for “the discovery
and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP”), forcing a biological protein
“to hold a glow stick” brings its own set of problems. Not only are the fluorescenceE. Khan · E. Narimanov (B)
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Birck Nanotechnology Center,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
e-mail: evgenii@purdue.edu
© 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_14
345