中国物理B ›› 2021, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (4): 40702-.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/abcf48

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  • 收稿日期:2020-09-05 修回日期:2020-10-26 接受日期:2020-12-01 出版日期:2021-03-16 发布日期:2021-03-16

Super-resolution imaging of low-contrast periodic nanoparticle arrays by microsphere-assisted microscopy

Qin-Fang Shi(石勤芳)1, Song-Lin Yang(杨松林)2, Yu-Rong Cao(曹玉蓉)1, Xiao-Qing Wang(王晓晴)1, Tao Chen(陈涛)3,†, and Yong-Hong Ye(叶永红)1,‡   

  1. 1 Department of Physics, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China; 2 Advanced Photonics Center, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China; 3 Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Robotics, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
  • Received:2020-09-05 Revised:2020-10-26 Accepted:2020-12-01 Online:2021-03-16 Published:2021-03-16
  • Contact: Corresponding author. E-mail: chent@suda.edu.cn Corresponding author. E-mail: yeyonghong@njnu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61673287).

Abstract: We use the label-free microsphere-assisted microscopy to image low-contrast hexagonally close-packed polystyrene nanoparticle arrays with diameters of 300 and 250 nm. When a nanoparticle array is directly placed on a glass slide, it cannot be distinguished. If a 30-nm-thick Ag film is deposited on the surface of a nanoparticle array, the nanoparticle array with nanoparticle diameters of 300 and 250 nm can be distinguished. In addition, the Talbot effect of the 300-nm-diameter nanoparticle array is also observed. If a nanoparticle sample is assembled on a glass slide deposited with a 30-nm-thick Ag film, an array of 300-nm-diameter nanoparticles can be discerned. We propose that in microsphere-assisted microscopy imaging, the resolution can be improved by the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) on the sample surface or at the sample/substrate interface, and a higher near-field intensity due to the excited SPPs would benefit the resolution improvement. Our study of label-free super-resolution imaging of low-contrast objects will promote the applications of microsphere-assisted microscopy in life sciences.

Key words: super-resolution, microsphere, optical microscopy, surface plasmon polariton

中图分类号:  (Conventional optical microscopes)

  • 07.60.Pb
42.79.Bh (Lenses, prisms and mirrors) 87.64.M- (Optical microscopy) 73.20.Mf (Collective excitations (including excitons, polarons, plasmons and other charge-density excitations))