Confocal Surface Plasmon Embedded Interferometric Microscope: A Brief Review

Abstract

In this paper, we firstly explain the concept of surface plasmon resonance imaging and a main key issue in the field of localized SPR imaging, which is the trade-off between resolution and sensitivity. We will then explain how V(z) scanning confocal microscope can overcome the trade-off and enable us to make a localized detection of multiple analytes in small quantities. This paper provides a brief review on a chronological development of the confocal surface plasmon embedded interferometric microscope and highlights the key idea behind each developments. Theoretical detection limit of the confocal system is within a single molecule detection regime, where 100kD molecule can be detected with 100μJ of light in the confocal system. We also discuss some key challenges in achieving the theoretical limit, such as, microphonic vibration and slow scanning speed of the system and how to get around these challenges. Lastly, we discuss some possible future developments to improve the system.