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arXiv · 0906.1213

Molecular Scale Imaging with a Smooth Superlens

Pratik Chaturvedi·Wei Wu·VJ Logeeswaran·Zhaoning Yu·M. Saif Islam·S. Y. Wang·R. Stanley Williams·Nicholas Fang
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Abstract

We demonstrate a smooth and low loss silver (Ag) optical superlens capable of resolving features at 1/12th of the illumination wavelength with high fidelity. This is made possible by utilizing state-of-the-art nanoimprint technology and intermediate wetting layer of germanium (Ge) for the growth of flat silver films with surface roughness at sub-nanometer scales. Our measurement of the resolved lines of 30nm half-pitch shows a full-width at half-maximum better than 37nm, in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. The development of this unique optical superlens lead promise to parallel imaging and nanofabrication in a single snapshot, a feat that are not yet available with other nanoscale imaging techniques such as atomic force microscope or scanning electron microscope.

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Pratik Chaturvedi, Wei Wu, VJ Logeeswaran, Zhaoning Yu, M. Saif Islam, S. Y. Wang, R. Stanley Williams, Nicholas Fang. 2009-06-05. Molecular Scale Imaging with a Smooth Superlens. https://arxiv.org/abs/0906.1213

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