Optical Super-Resolution by High-Index Liquid-Immersed Microspheres

Abstract

It is experimentally shown that barium titanate glass microspheres with diameters (D) in the range 2 220 micrometer and with high refractive index (n~1.9 2.1) can be used for super-resolution imaging of liquid-immersed nanostructures. Using micron-scale microspheres, we demonstrate an ability to discern the shape of a pattern with a minimum feature size of ~lambda/7, where lambda is the illumination wavelength. For spheres with D>50 micrometer, the discernible feature sizes were found to increase to ~lambda/4. Detailed data on the resolution, magnification, and field-of-view are presented. This imaging technique can be used in biomedical microscopy, microfluidics, and nanophotonics applications.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2012
Accession Number
ADA565534

Entities

People

  • Arash Darafsheh
  • Gary F Walsh
  • Luca Dal Negro
  • Vasily N. Astratov

Organizations

  • University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Barium Titanates
  • Far Field
  • Imaging Techniques
  • Materials
  • Materials Science
  • Metallic Nanoparticles
  • Microspheres
  • Nanoparticles
  • Near Field
  • Negative Index Metamaterials
  • Optical Materials
  • Optical Properties
  • Optics
  • Physics
  • Refractive Index
  • Silicon Dioxide
  • Spheres

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Nanoscale Plasmonic Nanotechnology
  • Spectroscopy.
  • Thin Film Deposition Science.

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Microelectronics