Ultrafast Transient Holographic Microscopy

Nano Lett. 2021 Feb 24;21(4):1666-1671. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c04416. Epub 2021 Feb 4.

Abstract

Nanotechnology is increasingly being applied in many emerging technologies, ranging from metamaterials to next-generation nanodrugs. A key ingredient for its success is the ability to specifically tailor ultrafast nanoscale light-matter interactions over very large areas. Unfortunately, dynamic imaging by ultrafast nanoscopy so far remains limited to very small 2D areas. This shortcoming prevents connecting single-particle observations with large-scale functionality. Here, we address this experimental challenge by combining concepts of ultrafast spectroscopy, wide-field nanoscopy, and digital holography. We introduce an ultrafast holographic transient microscope for wide-field transient nanoscale imaging with high frequency all-optical signal demodulation. We simultaneously record ultrafast transient dynamics of many individual nano-objects and demonstrate time-resolved spectroscopy of gold nanoparticles over a large volume irrespective of their x-y-z position. Our results pave the way to single-shot 3D microscopy of 2D and 3D materials on arbitrary time scales from femtosecond carrier dynamics in optoelectronic materials to millisecond dynamics in complex tissues.

Keywords: Holography; nanoparticles; photothermal microscopy; plasmonics; transient absorption imaging; ultrafast dynamics.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Gold
  • Holography*
  • Metal Nanoparticles*
  • Microscopy
  • Nanotechnology

Substances

  • Gold