Beyond the Diffraction Limit

Infrared and Raman Spectroscopic Imaging, Second Edition. Edited by Reiner Salzer, Heinz W. Siesler. 

Spectroscopic Imaging of Biological Samples Using Near-Field Methods 

Lucas Langeluddecke, Tanja Deckeit-Gaudig, and VolkerDeckert 

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B1.18.5.7 THE FUTURE RESOLUTION BEYOND THE DIFFRACTION LIMIT IN CONFOCAL FLUORESCENCE... 

Interferometry in astronomy is used to surpass the limitations on angular resolution set by the Earth s atmosphere (i. e., speckle interferometry), or by the diffraction of the aperture of a single telescope. We will focus in this lecture on interferometry with multiple telescope arrays with which it is possible to obtain information on spatial scales of the source beyond the diffraction limit of its member telescopes. 

Rugar, D., Resolution Beyond the Diffraction Limit in the Acoustic Microscope A Nonlinear Effect, J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 56,1984, pp. 1338-1346. 

Rugar, D. (1984). Resolution beyond the diffraction limit in the acoustic microscope a nonlinear effect. /. Appl. Phys. 56,1338—46. [41]... 

There is a need to improve probe geometries for high-resolution chemical imaging beyond the diffraction limit. This includes design (theory) and realization (reproducibility, robustness, mass production) of controlled geometry near-field optics. 

Betzig E and Trautman K, Near-Field Optics — Microscopy, Spectroscopy, and Surface Modification Beyond the Diffraction Limit , Science, 1992 257 189-195. Bard A J, Denault G, Lee C, Mandler D and Wipf D O, Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy A New Technique for the Characterization and Modification of Surfaces , Acc Chem Res, 1992 23 357. 

Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy (NSOM) is a technique which enables users to work with standard optical tools integrated with scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The integration of SPM and certain optical methods allows for the collection of optical information at resolutions well beyond the diffraction limit. 

Elfick APD, Downes AR, Mouras R (2010) Development of tip-enhanced optical spectroscopy for biological applications a review. Anal Bioanal Chem 396(1 ) 45-52 Domke KF, Pettinger B (2010) Studying surface chemistry beyond the diffraction limit ... 

This chapter describes Raman spectroscopy with a high spatial resolution beyond the diffraction limit of light. 

Beyond the Diffraction Limit Aperture and Apertureless NSOM Probes... 

The Raman techniques combined with AEM microscopic imaging, as for instance TERS (tip-enhanced Raman scattering) spectroscopy [27], allow to analyze surface nanostructures beyond the diffraction limit, but the cost of the instrumental apparatus is not affordable for any research laboratory. Therefore, in this chapter, the results obtained with those techniques will not be presented, though they increased Raman enhancement factors by up to lO, with the possibility of single-molecule detection. Conversely, confocal micro-Raman apparatus is affordable to every research group allowing SERS investigations with more comparable results. 

Domke KF, Pettinger B (2010) Studying surface chemistry beyond the diffraction limit 10 years of TERS. Chemphyschem 10 1365-1373... 

Pavani et al, Three-dimensional single-molecule fluorescence imaging beyond the diffraction limit by using a double hehcal point spread function. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106, 2995-2999 (2009)... 

Betzig E and Trautman J K 1992 Near field optics microscopy, spectroscopy, and surface modification beyond the diffraction limit Science 257 189-95 Xie X S and Dunn R C 1994 Probing single molecule dynamics Science 265 361-4 Ambrose W P, Goodwin P M, Martin J C and Keller R A 1994 Alterations of single molecule fluorescence lifetimes in near-field optical microscopy Science 265 364-7... 

Betzig E and Trautman J K 1992 Near-field optics microscopy, spectroscopy, and surface modification beyond the diffraction limit Science 257 189-95... 

Hammiche and co-workers [285] described a technique in which a miniaturized Wollaston wire resistive thermometer is used as a probe to record IR absorption spectra by detecting photothermally induced temperature fluctuations at the sample surface. These authors claimed that such an approach opens the way to spatial resolution extended beyond the diffraction limit by a few hundred nanometers. As an alternative, Palanker et al. [280] suggested to use tipless probing. 

Optical near-field microscopy (SNOM and NSOM [24,25]) is a novel technique with a spatial resolution power well beyond the diffraction limit. It was applied to image the fluorescence of single molecules at room temperature [26, 27] (see Chapter 2). Typical spectral linewidths reported were around 20 000 GHz [27], due to the room temperature operation. At liquid helium temperatures the linewidths are reduced to about 10-100 MHz, which allows study of the special effects on single molecular resonators. Moemer et al. [28, 29] combined the SNOM-technique with Single Mol-... 

Because the long-wavelength approximation is not valid due to the localized nature of the dressed photon (refer to Sect. 1.2), an electron in the nanometric particle can be excited even to an electric dipole-forbidden energy level as a result of the dressed photon exchange between closely spaced nanometric particles, which enables novel nanometer-scale wireless optical devices with dimensions beyond the diffraction-limit, low energy consumption, and resistance to non-invasive attacks. 

Nanophotonic devices have several unique features, by which their predominance over conventional photonic devices has been established for application to next-generation information processing systems. One feature is undoubtedly their nanometer-scale dimensions beyond the diffraction limit, which is an example of a quantitative innovation of optical technology. However, it should be noted again that the true nature of nanophotonic devices involves their ability to realize qualitative innovations, originating from their unique features. These features are ... 

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