Nanoscopy through a plasmonic nanolens.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31941710.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1073/pnas.1914713117 and PMC identifier 7006646.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Plasmonics now delivers sensors capable of detecting single molecules. The emission enhancements and nanometer-scale optical confinement achieved by these metallic nanostructures vastly increase spectroscopic sensitivity, enabling real-time tracking. However, the interaction of light with such nanostructures typically loses all information about the spatial location of molecules within a plasmonic hot spot. Here, we show that ultrathin plasmonic nanogaps support complete mode sets which strongly influence the far-field emission patterns of embedded emitters and allow the reconstruction of dipole positions with 1-nm precision. Emitters in different locations radiate spots, rings, and askew halo images, arising from interference of 2 radiating antenna modes differently coupling light out of the nanogap, highlighting the imaging potential of these plasmonic "crystal balls." Emitters at the center are now found to live indefinitely, because they radiate so rapidly.