Subnanometric stabilization of plasmon-enhanced optical microscopy

Nanotechnology. 2012 May 25;23(20):205503. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/23/20/205503. Epub 2012 Apr 30.

Abstract

We have demonstrated subnanometric stabilization of tip-enhanced optical microscopy under ambient condition. Time-dependent thermal drift of a plasmonic metallic tip was optically sensed at subnanometer scale, and was compensated in real-time. In addition, mechanically induced displacement of the tip, which usually occurs when the amount of tip-applied force varies, was also compensated in situ. The stabilization of tip-enhanced optical microscopy enables us to perform long-time and robust measurement without any degradation of optical signal, resulting in true nanometric optical imaging with high reproducibility and high precision. The technique presented is applicable for AFM-based nanoindentation with subnanometric precision.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Image Enhancement / instrumentation*
  • Microscopy, Scanning Probe / instrumentation*
  • Nanoparticles / ultrastructure*
  • Nanotechnology / instrumentation*
  • Surface Plasmon Resonance / instrumentation*