Near-field optics: from subwavelength illumination to nanometric shadowing.

Lewis, Aaron; Taha, Hesham; Strinkovski, Alina; Manevitch, Alexandra; Khatchatouriants, Artium; Dekhter, Rima; Ammann, Erich · Nat Biotechnol · 2003

review · Level V

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Abstract

Near-field optics uniquely addresses problems of x, y and z resolution by spatially confining the effect of a light source to nanometric domains. The problems in using far-field optics (conventional optical imaging through a lens) to achieve nanometric spatial resolution are formidable. Near-field optics serves a bridging role in biology between optical imaging and scanned probe microscopy. The integration of near-field and scanned probe imaging with far-field optics thus holds promise for solving the so-called inverse problem of optical imaging.

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