Nanolens-Array-Based Fast Scanning Near-Field Optical System for Large Area Nanoscale Imaging

Description

A fast scanning near-field optical system using an ordered array of nanolenses for large areasuper-resolution imaging will be developed in this project in order to overcome the limitationssuch as low time-efficiency, limited optical resolution, and confined applications of theexisting optical microscopy methods used for nanoscale imaging. Through this project, ourteam will explore the fundamental mechanisms behind using optical wavelength-scale lenses toresolve objects smaller than Abbe’s diffraction limit. We will integrate and demonstrate ascanning near-field super-resolution imaging system by using nanolens arrays fabricated by an“optically-induced electrohydrodynamic kinetics (OEHK)” platform; the nanolens array will beintegrated into a parallel scanning system for near-field optical imaging in large area, i.e., areaat least 10 orders of magnitude greater than typical AFM scanning area. Specifically, we willfocus on achieving two major technical goals in this project: 1) development of anOEHK-based platform for high-throughput and systematic fabrication of nanolens arrays withcontrollable lens morphology; 2) design and integrate a novel super-resolution microscopysystem for rapid and real-time near-field optical imaging with resolution of 200 nm or better.In order to demonstrate these core technologies, we need to overcome several technicalchallenges: i) fabrication of nanolens arrays with ordered lens spacing and uniformmorphology, while having the appropriate refractive index for super-resolution capability; ii)accurate control of the distance between a nanolens array plane and a sample plane, and ensurethat the 2 planes are parallel over a given area; iii) elucidate the fundamental principles behindthe enhanced image resolution induced by wavelength-scale lenses. We propose to completethe following major milestones in the next three years: a) demonstrate a high-resolution andhigh-precision computer controllable OEHK platform for rapid fabrication (i.e., in the order ofseconds) of nanolens array for super-resolution imaging; b) demonstrate a fast scanningnear-field optical system for large area nanoscale imaging with resolution better than 200 nm; c)use finite-difference time-domain numerical analysis technique to solve nanolens simulationmodels in order to understand more in-depth the mechanisms of super-resolution capability ofwavelength-scale lenses. If these technical objectives are achieved successfully, our team willbe the first in the world to realize a fast super-resolution optical system capable of observing amillimeter-scale surface area in real time. This novel technology will revolutionize researchfields spanning from biological/life sciences to material science and nanotechnology.?