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Updated: May 18, 2026

Lensfree On-chip Tomographic Microscopy Employing Multi-angle Illumination and Pixel Super-resolution

Lensfree On-chip Tomographic Microscopy Employing Multi-angle Illumination and Pixel Super-resolution

Published on: August 16, 2012

SPP tomography: a simple wide-field nanoscope.

L Grave de Peralta¹, C J Regan, A A Bernussi

¹Department of Physics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA. luis.grave-de-peralta@ttu.edu

|October 3, 2012

Summary

Surface plasmon polariton (SPP) tomography enables wide-field optical nanoimaging of features smaller than the diffraction limit. This technique resolves nanoscale objects with unprecedented detail, offering a new tool for subwavelength imaging.

Keywords:

imaging metal coatings optics physical sciences surface analysis tomography

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Last Updated: May 18, 2026

Lensfree On-chip Tomographic Microscopy Employing Multi-angle Illumination and Pixel Super-resolution

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Published on: August 16, 2012

Non-invasive 3D-Visualization with Sub-micron Resolution Using Synchrotron-X-ray-tomography

Non-invasive 3D-Visualization with Sub-micron Resolution Using Synchrotron-X-ray-tomography

Published on: May 27, 2008

Area of Science:

Optics and Photonics
Nanotechnology
Materials Science

Background:

Optical microscopy faces limitations in resolving nanoscale features due to diffraction.
Subwavelength resolution techniques are crucial for advancing fields like nanotechnology and materials science.
Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) offer potential for overcoming diffraction limits in imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore the wide-field optical nanoimaging capabilities of surface plasmon polariton (SPP) tomography.
To demonstrate the resolution limits of SPP tomography for nanoscale features.
To discuss the advantages of SPP tomography compared to other subwavelength resolution techniques.

Main Methods:

Utilizing surface plasmon polariton (SPP) tomography for nanoimaging.
Exciting SPPs via near-field fluorescence and coupling to the far-field through leakage radiation.
Forming wide-field surface emission (SE) images directly on a microscope camera.

Main Results:

Observed nanofeatures with lateral dimensions smaller than λ/20 in SE images of plasmonic crystals.
Resolved two single objects with a center-to-center separation of 200 nm and edge-to-edge separation of λ/7.
Demonstrated wide-field imaging not limited by out-of-plane diffraction.

Conclusions:

SPP tomography provides a powerful wide-field optical nanoimaging technique.
The method achieves subwavelength resolution, surpassing conventional optical limits.
SPP tomography offers unique imaging processing capabilities through analog tomography.