Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy

Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy

Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy or TIRF is an advanced microscopic technique used to visualize fluorophores in samples close to a solid surface with a higher refractive index, such as a glass coverslip. TIRF only allows fluorophores in proximity to the solid surface to be excited. When light from a medium with a lower refractive index (such as air) hits the glass coverslip at a critical angle, the light undergoes total internal reflection stead of passing through the glass.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

A quantum kinetic theory of photon Bose-Einstein condensation in semiconductors.

Reports on progress in physics. Physical Society (Great Britain)·2026

Same author

Nonlinear nanophotonics for high-dimensional quantum states.

Light, science & applications·2026

Same author

MoS<sub>2</sub> based 2D material photodetector array with high pixel density.

Nanophotonics (Berlin, Germany)·2025

Same author

Mixing of Surface and Bulk Optical Nonlinearities via Surface Plasmon Polaritons.

Physical review letters·2025

Same author

Stimulated Emission Tomography of Spontaneous Four-Wave Mixing in Plasmonic Nanoantennas.

ACS photonics·2025

Same author

Near-field photon entanglement in total angular momentum.

Nature·2025

Same journal

High-precision memristor-based computing.

Nature materials·2026

Same journal

Boundary geometry controls a topological defect transition that determines lumen nucleation in embryonic development.

Nature materials·2026

Same journal

Surface geometry controls bulk topological defects that govern embryonic structures.

Nature materials·2026

Same journal

Electron-phonon coupling and symmetry breaking in superconducting oxide interfaces near ferroelectric quantum criticality.

Nature materials·2026

Same journal

A highly conductive polar metal with efficient charge-spin conversion.

Nature materials·2026

Same journal

Giant and broadband circular dichroism from particle-hole symmetry breaking in Weyl semimetals.

Nature materials·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Non-equilibrium Microwave Plasma for Efficient High Temperature Chemistry

Non-equilibrium Microwave Plasma for Efficient High Temperature Chemistry

Published on: August 1, 2017

Room-temperature sub-diffraction-limited plasmon laser by total internal reflection.

Ren-Min Ma¹, Rupert F Oulton, Volker J Sorger

¹NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centre, 3112 Etcheverry Hall, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.

Nature Materials

|December 21, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a room-temperature plasmon laser using total internal reflection and hybrid nanosquares. This breakthrough overcomes previous limitations, enabling enhanced light-matter interactions for advanced applications.

More Related Videos

High Resolution Phonon-assisted Quasi-resonance Fluorescence Spectroscopy

High Resolution Phonon-assisted Quasi-resonance Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Published on: June 28, 2016

$Femtosecond Laser Filaments for Use in Sub-Diffraction-Limited Imaging and Remote Sensing$

Femtosecond Laser Filaments for Use in Sub-Diffraction-Limited Imaging and Remote Sensing

Published on: April 25, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Non-equilibrium Microwave Plasma for Efficient High Temperature Chemistry

Non-equilibrium Microwave Plasma for Efficient High Temperature Chemistry

Published on: August 1, 2017

High Resolution Phonon-assisted Quasi-resonance Fluorescence Spectroscopy

High Resolution Phonon-assisted Quasi-resonance Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Published on: June 28, 2016

$Femtosecond Laser Filaments for Use in Sub-Diffraction-Limited Imaging and Remote Sensing$

Femtosecond Laser Filaments for Use in Sub-Diffraction-Limited Imaging and Remote Sensing

Published on: April 25, 2019

Area of Science:

Optics and Photonics
Materials Science
Nanotechnology

Background:

Plasmon lasers offer sub-diffraction-limited light generation for enhanced light-matter interactions.
High losses in metallic cavities typically restrict plasmon laser operation to cryogenic temperatures.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a room-temperature plasmon laser with enhanced performance.
To overcome the limitations of high losses in conventional plasmonic cavities.

Main Methods:

Utilized total internal reflection of surface plasmons to minimize radiation loss.
Employed hybrid semiconductor-insulator-metal nanosquares for strong light confinement and reduced metal loss.
Engineered structural geometry to achieve single-mode lasing.

Main Results:

Achieved high cavity quality factors (approaching 100) and strong sub-diffraction-limited mode confinement (λ/20).
Observed up to an 18-fold enhancement in the spontaneous emission rate.
Demonstrated single-mode lasing by controlling cavity mode density.

Conclusions:

Presented a novel room-temperature semiconductor plasmon laser design.
The hybrid cavity approach effectively mitigates losses, enabling efficient operation at ambient temperatures.
The developed plasmon laser holds potential for advanced applications in bio-sensing, data storage, and optical communications.