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Chin. Phys. B, 2024, Vol. 33(5): 050703    DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/ad2a77
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A historical overview of nano-optics: From near-field optics toplasmonics

Miao-Yi Deng(邓妙怡) and Xing Zhu(朱星)1,†
1 Department of History of Science, Technology and Medicine, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;
2 School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Abstract  Nano-optics is an emergent research field in physics that appeared in the 1980s, which deals with light--matter optical interactions at the nanometerscale. In early studies of nano-optics, the main concern focus is to obtainhigher optical resolution over the diffraction limit. The researches ofnear-field imaging and spectroscopy based on scanning near-field opticalmicroscopy (SNOM) are developed. The exploration of improving SNOM probe fornear-field detection leads to the emergence of surface plasmons. In thesense of resolution and wider application, there has been a significanttransition from seeking higher resolution microscopy to plasmonic near-fieldmodulations in the nano-optics community during the nano-optic development.Nowadays, studies of nano-optics prefer the investigation of plasmonics indifferent material systems. In this article, the history of the developmentof near-field optics is briefly reviewed. The difficulties of conventionalSNOM to achieve higher resolution are discussed. As an alternative solution,surface plasmons have shown the advantages of higher resolution, widerapplication, and flexible nano-optical modulation for new devices. Thetypical studies in different periods are introduced and characteristics ofnano-optics in each stage are analyzed. In this way, the evolution progressfrom near-field optics to plasmonics of nano-optics research is presented.The future development of nano-optics is discussed then.
Keywords:  nano-optics      near-field optics      surface plasmon      plasmonic modulation  
Received:  25 December 2023      Revised:  12 February 2024      Accepted manuscript online: 
PACS:  07.79.Fc (Near-field scanning optical microscopes)  
  61.46.-w (Structure of nanoscale materials)  
  73.20.Mf (Collective excitations (including excitons, polarons, plasmons and other charge-density excitations))  
  81.07.-b (Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization)  
Corresponding Authors:  Miao-Yi Deng,E-mail:miaoyideng@foxmail.com     E-mail:  miaoyideng@foxmail.com

Cite this article: 

Miao-Yi Deng(邓妙怡) and Xing Zhu(朱星) A historical overview of nano-optics: From near-field optics toplasmonics 2024 Chin. Phys. B 33 050703

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