Super-resolution optical far-field microscope with arrays of near-field probes

Abstract

Nanoscale local field sensing is a powerful technique for various applications in physical and biological studies. The performance critically depends on the high spatial resolving capability. Conventional protocols mainly make use of the scanning pointed tips with near field interaction, while the tips would introduce perturbation to the detected field at nanoscale and. Also the preparation of tips is usually difficult and the uncontrollable shapes may introduce divergent results. Here, we presented an alternative method for nanoscale local field sensing with quantum probes: the nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond. Such quantum defects possess uniform properties, such as stable fluorescence, long spin coherence time and sub-nanometer size, which enable the NV center to be used for the detection of electromagnetic field and temperature, even in living biological cells. In the experiment, arrays of NV center ensembles in bulk diamond were fabricated and used as non-scanning near-field probes to detect the local optical field distribution. The location of NV center with the resolution below 10nm was obtained with optical far-field two-laser-pumping charge state depletion nanoscopy, where the laser power can be reduced about 10 times comparing with previous single-laser-pumping method. Furthermore, the sub-diffraction resolution images of the nanostructure on diamond plate surface were obtained from the local optical field detection. Along with the sensing of electromagnetic field, temperature and pressure, the NV center based super-resolution microscope can be acted as a universal multi-functional nanoscale detection platform, with high potential in study and application of nanoscience.