Wavelet-based decomposition of high resolution surface plasmon microscopy V(Z) curves at visible and near infrared wavelengths

Recent Advances in Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging Sensors

The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor is an important tool widely used for studying binding kinetics between biomolecular species. The SPR approach offers unique advantages in light of its real-time and label-free sensing capabilities. Until now, nearly all established SPR instrumentation schemes are based on single- or several-channel configurations. With the emergence of drug screening and investigation of biomolecular interactions on a massive scale these days for finding more effective treatments of diseases, there is a growing demand for the development of high-throughput 2-D SPR sensor arrays based on imaging. The so-called SPR imaging (SPRi) approach has been explored intensively in recent years. This review aims to provide an up-to-date and concise summary of recent advances in SPRi. The specific focuses are on practical instrumentation designs and their respective biosensing applications in relation to molecular sensing, healthcare testing, and environmental screening.

Hilbert transform-based single-shot plasmon microscopy

The localized properties of surface plasmons (SPs) and surface waves can be measured with a modified confocal microscope. An interference signal arises from a locally generated reference close to normal incidence and the beam that forms the surface wave. A spatial light modulator can impose different phase shifts on the part of the incident light to recover the properties of the SP. We report a Hilbert transform method to recover the wavenumber with a single shot. The method is faster and potentially less expensive than previous approaches. The signal-to-noise ratio is equivalent to the phase-stepping method. The signal processing necessary to condition the signal is described.

Compact surface plasmon holographic microscopy for near-field film mapping

We develop a compact objective-coupling surface plasmon holographic microscopy with a common-path configuration by introducing a Wollaston prism. Through off-axis hologram recording and numerical reconstruction, amplitude- and phase-contrast surface plasmon resonance (SPR) images can be obtained simultaneously. Based on the four-layer SPR model, the thin film thickness distribution in near field can be mapped unambiguously using a novel demodulation method without a priori knowledge. The technique demonstrates nondestructive and full-field measurement capabilities with sub-nanometer resolution theoretically. Furthermore, owing to the high temporal stability, the recommended system shows great potential for dynamic measurement of near-field tiny refractive index or thickness variation in fields such as chemistry and biomedicine, etc.

Common-path digital holographic microscopy for near-field phase imaging based on surface plasmon resonance

We develop a common-path digital holographic microscopy based on prism-coupling surface plasmon resonance (SPR) for near-field phase imaging. A single beam splitter with specific configuration is introduced in an SPR imaging system to realize off-axis holographic recording. By measuring the phase shift difference of the reflected light at SPR exploiting the proposed holographic microscopy with high temporal stability, near-field characteristic measurement can be realized. With its simplicity, vibration isolation, and inherent capability of phase curvature compensation, the recommended system shows advanced performance in monitoring tiny refractive index variations and imaging biological tissues.

Time-lapse scanning surface plasmon microscopy of living adherent cells with a radially polarized beam

We report on a fibered high-resolution scanning surface plasmon microscope for long term imaging of living adherent cells. The coupling of a high numerical aperture objective lens and a fibered heterodyne interferometer enhances both the sensitivity and the long term stability of this microscope, allowing for time-lapse recording over several days. The diffraction limit is reached with a radially polarized illumination beam. Adherence and motility of living C2C12 myoblast cells are followed for 50 h, revealing that the dynamics of these cells change after 10 h. This plasmon enhanced evanescent wave microscopy is particularly suited for investigating cell adhesion, since it can not only be performed without staining of the sample but it can also capture in real time the exchange of extracellular matrix elements between the substrate and the cells.

Spatial resolution in prism-based surface plasmon resonance microscopy

Several optical surface sensing techniques, such as Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), work by imaging the base of a prism by one of its faces. However, such a fundamental optical concern has not been fully analyzed and understood so far, and spatial resolution remains a critical and controversial issue. In SPR, the propagation length L(x) of the surface plasmon waves has been considered as the limiting factor. Here, we demonstrate that for unoptimized systems geometrical aberrations caused by the prism can be more limiting than the propagation length. By combining line-scan imaging mode with optimized prisms, we access the ultimate lateral resolution which is diffraction-limited by the object light diffusion. We describe several optimized configurations in water and discuss the trade-off between L(x) and sensitivity. The improvement of resolution is confirmed by imaging micro-structured PDMS stamps and individual living eukaryote cells and bacteria on field-of-view from 0.1 to 20 mm(2).

Guided wave microscopy: mastering the inverse problem

Surface plasmon microscopy is widely recognized for its high sensitivity to nanoscale dielectric or metallic structures confined in a close neighborhood of a gold surface. Recently, its coupling to high-numerical-aperture objective lenses pushed its resolution down to the diffraction limit. Here, we show that the same microscope configuration can be used to excite standing guided waves in asymmetric slabs, which definitely extends the range of applications of this type of microscopy from nano- to microscale structure imaging. We demonstrate experimentally on PPMA films that the V(Z) response of a scanning surface plasmon microscope can be Fourier inverted in order to obtain the reflectivity curve R(ν). When the guided waves are excited, R(ν) shows a finite number of sharp peaks corresponding to quantified guiding modes from which one can extract both the refractive index (RI) and the thickness of the layer at the point focused by the microscope. This device can thus be used to reconstruct RI and thickness contours of dielectric samples with a high spatial resolution.