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Updated: May 7, 2026

Three-dimensional Optical-resolution Photoacoustic Microscopy
Published on: May 3, 2011
Nanometre-resolution three-dimensional tomographic and vectorial near-field imaging in dielectric optical resonators
Bingbing Zhu1,2, Qingnan Cai1,2, Yaxin Liu1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE) and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Abstract:
All-dielectric optical nano-resonators have emerged as low-loss, versatile and highly adaptable components in nanophotonic structures for manipulating electromagnetic waves and enhancing light-matter interactions. However, achieving full three-dimensional characterization of near fields within dielectric nano-resonators poses great experimental challenges. Here we develop a technique to image near-field wave patterns inside dielectric optical nano-resonators using high-order sideband generation. By exploiting the phase sensitivity of various harmonic orders, which enables the detection of near-field distributions at distinct depths, we achieve three-dimensional tomographic and near-field imaging with a transverse resolution of ~920 nm and a longitudinal resolution of ~130 nm inside a micrometre-thick silicon anapole resonator. Our method offers high-contrast polarization sensitivity and phase-resolving capabilities, providing comprehensive vectorial near-field information and could be applied to diverse dielectric metamaterials.

