nanoplasmonics and metamaterials. The super-resolution imaging proposals stemmed from the John Pendry’s idea of “perfect lens” in 1999. Since that time, this
field has truly flourished with the proposals of far-field superlens, hyperlens,
localized plasmonic structured illumination, and microspherical nanoscopy.
Thus, the super-resolution LFM is a rapidly developing interdisciplinary area
that fuses physics, engineering, novel photonic, plasmonic and metamaterials
designs, microscopy hardware, imaging software, and biomedical applications. The
importance of super-resolution LFM is evident in its truly explosive growth and in
the number of papers and patents in this area as well as in the number of citations to
these papers (from few dozen in 2008 to more than a thousand in 2018). However,
these studies evolved separately in the physics and biomedical optics communities,
and the most important results have not been presented in a single place. The
purpose of this book is not only to fill this gap, but also to serve as a reference point
for students and researches interested in this field.
The organizational structure of the book is imposed by the several principles of
obtaining high-resolution imaging in LFM. The first five chapters of this book
illustrate the state of the art of the modern interference detection techniques.
Although the lateral resolution is usually diffraction-limited in these methods
(unless combined with the additional techniques), they offer an unsurpassed precision of axial resolution combined with high temporal resolution that explains the
widespread and high popularity of these methods in biomedical imaging applications. In some sense, these first five chapters are genetically connected to the
phase-contrast microscopy pioneered by Frits Zernike and show the modern level of
development of the interferometric methods. These include Chap. 1 on quantitative
phase imaging (QPI), Chap. 2 on interferometric scattering (iSCAT) microscopy
and related techniques, Chap. 3 on coherent brightfield (COBRI) microscopy,
Chap. 4 on tomographic diffractive microscopy (TDM), and Chap. 5 on a combination of NSOM with digital holography.
Another super-resolution imaging concept is based on using nonlinear optics
approaches. These ideas flourished in developing nonlinear LFM methods and
applications, as illustrated in Chaps. 6–12. Although the resolution advantage
of these methods is achieved by the expense of higher excitation levels, they have
many applications for imaging photonic and plasmonic nanostructures, semiconductor nanoscale devices, nanoparticles, and novel materials such as graphene.
These methods are represented in Chap. 6 by absorption-based far-field
super-resolved LFM, in Chap. 7 by pump-probe LFM, in Chap. 8 by Raman
microscopy and related methods, in Chap. 9 by the use of silicon for super-resolved
imaging, in Chap. 10 by super-resolution based on nonlinear plasmonic scattering,
in Chap. 11 by super-resolution based on nonlinear photomodulated reflectivity,
and in Chap. 12 by a combination of nonlinear LFM with structured illumination.
One more route to achieving super-resolution imaging is represented by far-field
super-lenses and hyperlenses made from advanced plasmonic and metamaterials
with engineered dispersion relations as illustrated in Chaps. 13 and 14. Examples
are represented by 2D plasmonic microscope using image magnification inside the
media with much shorter plasmonic wavelengths compared to that in air, far-field
Preface
vii
field has truly flourished with the proposals of far-field superlens, hyperlens,
localized plasmonic structured illumination, and microspherical nanoscopy.
Thus, the super-resolution LFM is a rapidly developing interdisciplinary area
that fuses physics, engineering, novel photonic, plasmonic and metamaterials
designs, microscopy hardware, imaging software, and biomedical applications. The
importance of super-resolution LFM is evident in its truly explosive growth and in
the number of papers and patents in this area as well as in the number of citations to
these papers (from few dozen in 2008 to more than a thousand in 2018). However,
these studies evolved separately in the physics and biomedical optics communities,
and the most important results have not been presented in a single place. The
purpose of this book is not only to fill this gap, but also to serve as a reference point
for students and researches interested in this field.
The organizational structure of the book is imposed by the several principles of
obtaining high-resolution imaging in LFM. The first five chapters of this book
illustrate the state of the art of the modern interference detection techniques.
Although the lateral resolution is usually diffraction-limited in these methods
(unless combined with the additional techniques), they offer an unsurpassed precision of axial resolution combined with high temporal resolution that explains the
widespread and high popularity of these methods in biomedical imaging applications. In some sense, these first five chapters are genetically connected to the
phase-contrast microscopy pioneered by Frits Zernike and show the modern level of
development of the interferometric methods. These include Chap. 1 on quantitative
phase imaging (QPI), Chap. 2 on interferometric scattering (iSCAT) microscopy
and related techniques, Chap. 3 on coherent brightfield (COBRI) microscopy,
Chap. 4 on tomographic diffractive microscopy (TDM), and Chap. 5 on a combination of NSOM with digital holography.
Another super-resolution imaging concept is based on using nonlinear optics
approaches. These ideas flourished in developing nonlinear LFM methods and
applications, as illustrated in Chaps. 6–12. Although the resolution advantage
of these methods is achieved by the expense of higher excitation levels, they have
many applications for imaging photonic and plasmonic nanostructures, semiconductor nanoscale devices, nanoparticles, and novel materials such as graphene.
These methods are represented in Chap. 6 by absorption-based far-field
super-resolved LFM, in Chap. 7 by pump-probe LFM, in Chap. 8 by Raman
microscopy and related methods, in Chap. 9 by the use of silicon for super-resolved
imaging, in Chap. 10 by super-resolution based on nonlinear plasmonic scattering,
in Chap. 11 by super-resolution based on nonlinear photomodulated reflectivity,
and in Chap. 12 by a combination of nonlinear LFM with structured illumination.
One more route to achieving super-resolution imaging is represented by far-field
super-lenses and hyperlenses made from advanced plasmonic and metamaterials
with engineered dispersion relations as illustrated in Chaps. 13 and 14. Examples
are represented by 2D plasmonic microscope using image magnification inside the
media with much shorter plasmonic wavelengths compared to that in air, far-field
Preface
vii