Deep Sub-wavelength Imaging Research Articles

Deep-subwavelength ultrasonic imaging by MHz column-structured metalens: First evidence of quantitative visualization of subsurface defects

High-resolution ultrasonic imaging, which is highly demanded in nondestructive evaluation, is inherently limited by the detection wavelength. Acoustic metamaterial is an emerging technique to achieve subwavelength-resolution ultrasonic imaging beyond the diffraction limit due to its unprecedented acoustic properties. However, existing reports focus on metalenses for manipulating acoustic waves propagating in fluids like air and water, typically at a low-frequency range below 10 kHz. In this paper, a 0.5 MHz periodic column-structured metalens is designed and fabricated to realize deep-subwavelength ultrasonic imaging for quantitive visualization of subsurface defects in solid structures. The silicon-based metalens is designed based on Fabry–Pérot resonance theory. It consists of silicon columns arranged periodically with a lattice constant of 0.2 mm. The Fabry–Pérot resonance frequency is analyzed theoretically and the wave fields of the metalens at resonance mode are verified numerically. The subwavelength ultrasonic imaging performance of the proposed metalens is numerically proved and experimentally demonstrated. As a result, super-resolution ultrasonic imaging (λ/30, with λ being the wavelength) with a high resolving contrast is realized to identify two separated subsurface defects in a stainless-steel structure experimentally with the designed column-structured metalens. This work demonstrates a valuable deep-subwavelength imaging method that beyond traditional diffraction limits and paves the way for enhanced applications in nondestructive evaluation and biomedical diagnosis.

Near- and far-field study of polarization-dependent surface plasmon resonance in bowtie nano-aperture arrays.

Bowtie nano-apertures can confine light into deep subwavelength volumes with extreme field enhancement, making them a useful tool for various applications such as optical trapping, deep subwavelength imaging, nanolithography, and sensors. However, the correlation between the near- and far-field properties of bowtie nano-aperture arrays has yet to be fully explored. In this study, we experimentally investigated the polarization-dependent surface plasmon resonance in bowtie nano-aperture arrays using both optical transmission spectroscopy and photoemission electron microscopy. The experimental results reveal a nonlinear redshift in the transmission spectra as the gap size of the bowtie nanoaperture decreases for vertically polarized light, while the transmission spectra remain unchanged with different gap sizes for horizontally polarized light. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, we present simulated charge and current distributions, revealing how the electrons respond to light and generate the plasmonic fields. These near-field distributions were verified by photoemission electron microscopy. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the plasmonic properties of bowtie nano-aperture, enabling their further applications, one of which is the optical switching of the resonance wavelength in the widely used visible spectral region without changing the geometry of the nanostructure.

Metastability of photonic spin meron lattices in the presence of perturbed spin-orbit coupling.

Photonic skyrmions and merons are topological quasiparticles characterized by nontrivial electromagnetic textures, which have received increasing research attention recently, providing novel degree of freedom to manipulate light-matter interactions and exhibiting excellent potential in deep-subwavelength imaging and nanometrology. Here, the topological stability of photonic spin meron lattices, which indicates the invariance of skyrmion number and robustness of spin texture under a continuous deformation of the field configuration, is demonstrated by inducing a perturbation to break the C4 symmetry in the presence spin-orbit coupling in an optical field. We revealed that amplitude perturbation would result in an amplitude-dependent shift of spin center, while phase perturbation leads to the deformation of domain walls, manifesting the metastability of photonic meron. Such spin topology is verified through the interference of plasmonic vortices with a broken rotational symmetry. The results provide new insights on optical topological quasiparticles, which may pave the way towards applications in topological photonics, optical information storage and transfer.

Néel-type optical target skyrmions inherited from evanescent electromagnetic fields with rotational symmetry.

Optical skyrmions have recently attracted growing interest due to their potential applications in deep-subwavelength imaging and nanometrology. While optical skyrmions have been successfully demonstrated using different field vectors, the study of their generation and control, as well as their general correlation with electromagnetic (EM) fields, is still in its infancy. Here, we theoretically propose that evanescent transverse-magnetic-polarized (TM-polarized) EM fields with rotational symmetry are actually Néel-type optical target skyrmions of the electric field vectors. Such optical target skyrmions are independent of the operation frequency and medium. Our proposal was verified by numerical simulations and real-space nano-imaging experiments performed on a graphene monolayer, where the target skyrmions could be as small as ∼100 nm in diameter. The results can therefore not only further our understanding of the formation mechanisms of EM topological textures, but also provide guidelines for the facile construction of EM skyrmions that may impact future information technologies.

Escalated Deep-Subwavelength Acoustic Imaging with Field Enhancement Inside a Metalens

Super-resolution acoustic imaging with state-of-the-art spatial resolution (\ensuremath{\lambda}/50), with \ensuremath{\lambda} being the wavelength, is showcased with a holey-structured metalens. However, the imaging mechanism under unity transmission based on Fabry-Perot resonances means the metalens fundamentally suffers from narrow bandwidth and limited deep-subwavelength contrast, and therefore further advancement of deep-subwavelength imaging has been stalled. Here we break the barriers for deep-subwavelength acoustic imaging comprehensively in spatial resolution, resolving contrast, and working bandwidth, by exploiting field enhancement inside the metalens. A microscopic model is established to theoretically reveal the underlying physics for escalated deep-subwavelength acoustic imaging. For a proof-of-concept, the imaging performance of the proposed method is numerically proven and experimentally demonstrated. Specifically, a breakthrough resolution below \ensuremath{\lambda}/100 is achieved while resolving contrast is improved by at least 6.5 times and working bandwidth is broadened to approximately 25% of the operating frequency. Furthermore, pulsed acoustic imaging on the deep-subwavelength scale is showcased, which is an important step towards the practical application of the ultrahigh-resolution acoustic imaging technique. We believe the work presented here may greatly benefit a variety of fields in acoustics, such as visualizing subcutaneous structures in medical diagnosis and characterizing subsurface flaws in industrial nondestructive evaluation.

Axial tunable plasmonic talbot effect based on monolayer graphene

In this paper, the axial plasmonic Talbot effect is investigated with a graphene monolayer sheet with different chemical potential distribution. The Talbot distance of axial self-imaging effect is discussed by controlling the chemical potential of graphene and the frequency. The Talbot distance is in inverse proportion to the frequency, and decreases when the chemical potential of graphene increases. Moreover, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of Talbot image is also studied by varying the frequency and the chemical potential of graphene. The result shows that the FWHM follows an upward curve with the increase of chemical potential and frequency. The proposed structure might find applications in the fields of deep sub-wavelength imaging and nano-lithography.

Real-time sub-wavelength imaging of surface waves with nonlinear near-field optical microscopy

Imaging evanescent waves is of crucial importance for sub-wavelength-scale investigation of various phenomena. However, frequently used techniques for near-field imaging require either a strong perturbation of the field, long acquisition times or complex electron-based tools. Here, we introduce nonlinear near-field optical microscopy (NNOM), which is capable of real-time evanescent wave imaging by nonlinear wave mixing while using only standard optical components. As a proof-of-concept, we present non-perturbative, single-shot mapping of evanescent plasmonic patterns, utilizing the nonlinearity of the host metal, and monitor in real time the externally controlled changes to the patterns. We further demonstrate the ability to extract the full field information—the amplitude and phase of all electric-field components—in a polarization-sensitive, spin-selective manner. This simple and highly tunable technique could be extended to deep sub-wavelength imaging of polaritons in two-dimensional materials or other nanophotonic guided modes, for swift photonic device characterization and optimized light−matter interactions. A near-field imaging approach based on nonlinear wave mixing that can provide a detailed picture of evanescent waves in real time and with a single shot is demonstrated. Using only standard optical components, this approach will make near-field imaging much more affordable and accessible.

Elastic Metasurfaces for Deep and Robust Subwavelength Focusing and Imaging

Metasurfaces are planar metamaterials with a flat surface and a subwavelength thickness that are able to shape arbitrary wave fronts such as focusing or imaging. There is a broad interest in the literature about subwavelength focusing and imaging based on bulk metamaterials while the utilization of metasurfaces for elastic waves has rarely been reported. Here, we present a type of elastic metasurface consisting of a line of gradient resonant pillars for robust deep subwavelength focusing and imaging of elastic waves in a plate. Numerical approaches supported by analytic Huygens-Fresnel demonstrations show that the subwavelength full width at half maximum (FWHM) behaves linearly as a function of the ratio F/D where F is the measured focal length and D the metasurface length. We discuss the range of F/D where FWHM remains smaller than half a wavelength in the near field. The focal length F and the FWHM exhibit stable performances when submitted to disorder perturbations in the geometrical parameters and to frequency fluctuations. We show that the enhanced focusing resolution with smaller FWHM can be very beneficial for energy harvesting since the output electric power can be increased by more than one order of magnitude. The proposed elastic metasurfaces bring a way for high resolution focusing and imaging which is useful for applications in various domains such as energy harvesting, wave sensing, communication, nondestructive evaluation.

Strong spin–orbit interaction of photonic skyrmions at the general optical interface

Abstract Photonic skyrmions have applications in many areas, including the vectorial and chiral optics, optical manipulation, deep-subwavelength imaging and nanometrology. Much effort has been focused on the experimental characterization of photonic skyrmions. Here, we give an insight into the spin and orbital features of photonic skyrmions constructed by the p-polarized and s-polarized surface waves at an interface with various electric and magnetic properties by analyzing the continuity of chirality, energy flow and momentum densities through the electric and magnetic interface. The continuity of chirality density indicates that the photonic skyrmion has a property of the optical transverse spin. Most importantly, the continuity of energy flow and momentum densities results in four spin–orbit interaction quantities, which indicate the gradient of electric polarizability or permeability governs the spin–orbit interaction of photonic skyrmions and leads to the discontinuity and even the reversal of spin orientation through the optical interface. Our investigations on the spin–orbit properties of photonic skyrmions, which can give rise to the spin-dependent force and topological unidirectional transportation, is thorough and can be extended to other classical wave, such as acoustic and fluid waves. The findings help in understanding the spin–orbit feature of photonic topological texture and in constructing further optical manipulation, sensing, quantum and topological techniques.

A novel approach to Fabry\u2013P\xe9rot-resonance-based lens and demonstrating deep-subwavelength imaging

During our research, we explored a novel way to represent subwavelength imaging and derived a transmission equation to explicate the FP (Fabry–Pérot) resonance phenomena. Subsequently, using analysis and observation, we performed deep-subwavelength imaging. Both numerically and experimentally, imaging with super-resolution was achieved at deep subwavelength scale of λ/56.53 with a lens thickness 212 mm. Our results also showed that by increasing lens thickness, higher resolution can be achieved. Moreover, via a single source study, we showed the full width at half maximum range and predicted the size of smallest detectable object. We also observed that with a greater lens thickness, finer features could be detected. These findings may open a new route in near-field imaging for practical applications such as biometric sensors, ultrasonic medical equipment, and non-destructive testing.

Spatial Resolution of Coherent Cathodoluminescence Super-Resolution Microscopy

We investigate the nanoscale excitation of Ag nanocubes with coherent cathodoluminescence imaging spectroscopy (CL) to resolve the factors that determine the spatial resolution of CL as a deep-subwavelength imaging technique. The 10–30 keV electron beam coherently excites localized plasmons in 70 nm Ag cubes at 2.4 and 3.1 eV. The radiation from these plasmon modes is collected in the far-field together with the secondary electron intensity. CL line scans across the nanocubes show exponentially decaying tails away from the cube that reveal the evanescent coupling of the electron field to the resonant plasmon modes. The measured CL decay lengths range from 8 nm (10 keV) to 12 nm (30 keV) and differ from the calculated ones by only 1–3 nm. A statistical model of electron scattering inside the Ag nanocubes is developed to analyze the secondary electron images and compare them with the CL data. The Ag nanocube edges are derived from the CL line scans with a systematic error less than 3 nm. The data demonstrate that CL probes the electron-induced plasmon fields with nanometer accuracy.

Porous metamaterials for deep sub-wavelength ultrasonic imaging

This paper reports the application of a porous medium as an aperiodic metamaterial lens for ultrasonic imaging in the context of nondestructive evaluation and non-invasive diagnostics. Experimental results are presented, demonstrating a deep sub-wavelength imaging down to 1/36th of the operating wavelength, which is the highest resolution demonstrated worldwide using bulk ultrasound. The improvement in the resolution is shown to be linked to aperiodicity overcoming the Wood anomaly, which sets limits on wave transmission by holey structured lenses.

Deep-Subwavelength Resolving and Manipulating of Hidden Chirality in Achiral Nanostructures.

The chiral state of light plays a vital role in light-matter interactions and the consequent revolution of nanophotonic devices and advanced modern chiroptics. As the light-matter interaction goes into the nano- and quantum world, numerous chiroptical technologies and quantum devices require precise knowledge of chiral electromagnetic modes and chiral radiative local density of states (LDOS) distributions in detail, which directly determine the chiral light-matter interaction for applications such as chiral light detection and emission. With classical optical techniques failing to directly measure the chiral radiative LDOS, deep-subwavelength imaging and control of circular polarization (CP) light associated phenomena are introduced into the agenda. Here, we simultaneously reveal the hidden chiral electromagnetic mode and acquire its chiral radiative LDOS distribution of a single symmetric nanostructure at the deep-subwavelength scale by using CP-resolved cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy. The chirality of the symmetric nanostructure under normally incident light excitation, resulting from the interference between the symmetric and antisymmetric modes of the V-shaped nanoantenna, is hidden in the near field with a giant chiral distribution (∼99%) at the arm-ends, which enables the circularly polarized CL emission from the radiative LDOS hot-spot and the following active helicity control at the deep-subwavelength scale. The proposed V-shaped nanostructure as a functional unit is further applied to the helicity-dependent binary encoding and the two-dimensional display applications. The proposed physical principle and experimental configuration can promote the future chiral characterization and manipulation at the deep-subwavelength scale and provide direct guidelines for the optimization of chiral light-matter interactions for future quantum studies.

Ultra low-loss super-resolution with extremely anisotropic semiconductor metamaterials

We investigate the mechanisms for the reduction of losses in doped semiconductor multilayers used for the construction of uniaxial metamaterials and show that maximizing the mean scattering time of the doped layers is key to spectrally isolating losses and maximizing anisotropy. By adjusting the layer thickness ratio of the multilayer, we show that the spectral regions of extreme anisotropy can be separated from those of high loss. Using these insights and coupled with realistic semiconductor growth parameters, we demonstrate an InAs-based superlens with an excellent loss factor α ≈ 52mm-1 and maximum perpendicular permittivity, ε⊥ > 250. By tuning the doping concentration, we show that such a system can be designed to operate anywhere in the region λ0 ≈ 5 to 25μm. We find that such a structure is capable of deep sub-wavelength imaging (< λ0/15) at superlens thicknesses up to ∼85μm (∼8λ0).

Broadband Negative Refraction of Highly Squeezed Hyperbolic Polaritons in 2D Materials.

Negative refraction of highly squeezed polaritons is a fundamental building block for nanophotonics, since it can enable many unique applications, such as deep-subwavelength imaging. However, the phenomenon of all-angle negative refraction of highly squeezed polaritons, such as graphene plasmons with their wavelength squeezed by a factor over 100 compared to free-space photons, was reported to work only within a narrow bandwidth (<1 THz). Demonstrating this phenomenon within a broad frequency range remains a challenge that is highly sought after due to its importance for the manipulation of light at the extreme nanoscale. Here we show the broadband all-angle negative refraction of highly squeezed hyperbolic polaritons in 2D materials in the infrared regime, by utilizing the naturally hyperbolic 2D materials or the hyperbolic metasurfaces based on nanostructured 2D materials (e.g., graphene). The working bandwidth can vary from several tens of THz to over a hundred of THz by tuning the chemical potential of 2D materials.

Closed-form formulae of effective parameters of hyperbolic metamaterial made by stacked hole-array layers working at terahertz or microwave radiation

A metamaterial made by stacked hole-array layers known as a fishnet metamaterial behaves as a hyperbolic metamaterial at wavelength much longer than hole-array period. However, the analytical formulae of effective parameters of a fishnet metamaterial have not been reported hindering the design of deep-subwavelength imaging devices using this structure. We report the new closed-form formulae of effective parameters comprising anisotropic dispersion relation of a fishnet metamaterial working at terahertz or microwave frequency. These effective parameters of a fishnet metamaterial are consistent with those obtained by quasi-full solutions using known effective parameters of a hole-array layer working at frequency below its spoof plasma frequency with the superlattice period much smaller than the hole-array period. We also theoretically demonstrate the deep-subwavelength focusing at {\lambda}/83 using the composite structure of a slit-array layer and a fishnet metamaterial. It is found that the focused intensity inside a fishnet metamaterial is several times larger than that without the fishnet metamaterial, but the transmitted intensity is still restricted by large-wavevector difference in air and a fishnet metamaterial. Our effective parameters may aid the next-generation deep-subwavelength imaging devices working at terahertz or microwave radiation.

All-angle negative refraction of highly squeezed plasmon and phonon polaritons in graphene–boron nitride heterostructures

A fundamental building block for nanophotonics is the ability to achieve negative refraction of polaritons, because this could enable the demonstration of many unique nanoscale applications such as deep-subwavelength imaging, superlens, and novel guiding. However, to achieve negative refraction of highly squeezed polaritons, such as plasmon polaritons in graphene and phonon polaritons in boron nitride (BN) with their wavelengths squeezed by a factor over 100, requires the ability to flip the sign of their group velocity at will, which is challenging. Here we reveal that the strong coupling between plasmon and phonon polaritons in graphene-BN heterostructures can be used to flip the sign of the group velocity of the resulting hybrid (plasmon-phonon-polariton) modes. We predict all-angle negative refraction between plasmon and phonon polaritons and, even more surprisingly, between hybrid graphene plasmons and between hybrid phonon polaritons. Graphene-BN heterostructures thus provide a versatile platform for the design of nanometasurfaces and nanoimaging elements.

Tunable Terahertz Deep Subwavelength Imaging Based on a Graphene Monolayer

The resolution of conventional terahertz (THz) imaging techniques is limited to about half wavelength, which is not fine enough for applications of biomedical sensing and nondestructive testing. To improve the resolution, a new superlens, constructed by a monolayer graphene sheet combining with a grating voltage gate, are proposed in this paper to achieve deep super-resolution imaging in the THz frequency range. The main idea is based on the Fabry-Perot resonance of graphene edge plasmon waves. By shaping the voltage gate into a radial pattern, magnified images of subwavelength targets can be obtained. With this approach, the finest resolution can achieve up to λ/150. Besides, the superlens can be conveniently tuned to work in a large frequency band ranging from 4.3 THz to 9 THz. The proposal could find potential applications in THz near-field imaging systems.

Vectorial Near-Field Imaging of Silicon Heterostructure Cavities in Air-Slot Waveguides

Air-slot photonic nanocavities have many relevant advantages for hybrid integration of external light emitters/absorbers in Si-based optoelectronic devices. Still an experimental major drawback is the difficulty of performing near-field polarization mapping of the photonic modes localized in air-regions. Here, we demonstrate that near-field resonant transmission can achieve high-fidelity vectorial imaging of the electric-field distribution of a nanocavity mode in the challenging case of a silicon heterostructure photonic-crystal cavity realized in an air-slot waveguide where the mode is localized both in air and dielectric regions. We discern and control the in-plane independent polarization components of the electric field of the photonic mode by exploiting the Fano imaging technique. The use of metallic coated aperture near-field probes allows to map the two polarizations with a deep sub-wavelength imaging ( $\lambda $ /15) resolution.

Near-Field Fano-Imaging of TE and TM Modes in Silicon Microrings

A deep-subwavelength imaging of the optical-guided modes localized in silicon microring resonators, obtained with a polarization-sensitive Fano-imaging technique, is demonstrated. We merge together near-field scanning optical microscopy and resonant forward scattering spectroscopy, leading to near-field hyperspectral imaging without the need of embedded light emitters or evanescent light coupling into the microring. The combined analysis of the observed Fano-like spectral line shapes and of the near-field intensity spatial distributions, supported by accurate numerical calculations, gives a clear discrimination between the TE and the TM modes.