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

Nature Photonics volume 15, pages 442–448 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

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.

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Fig. 1: Concept and experimental realization for NNOM.
Fig. 2: Spin-selective imaging using NNOM in the circular polarization basis.
Fig. 3: NNOM in the linear polarization basis.
Fig. 4: Enhanced resolution in circular and non-circular symmetries.
Fig. 5: Nonlinear read-out of actively controlled plasmonic fields.

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Data availability

The data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) grant number 1750/18 and the Russel Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) at the Technion. We acknowledge help provided in sample fabrication by the photovoltaic laboratory and the Micro-Nano Fabrication unit (MNFU) at the Technion. S.T. acknowledges support by the Adams Fellowship Program of the Israel Academy of Science and Humanities. J.K.A. acknowledges support by the Israeli Council for Higher Education scholarship programme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Andrew and Erna Viterbi Department of Electrical Engineering, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Kobi Frischwasser, Kobi Cohen, Jakob Kher-Alden, Shimon Dolev, Shai Tsesses & Guy Bartal

Authors
  1. Kobi Frischwasser
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  2. Kobi Cohen
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  3. Jakob Kher-Alden
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  4. Shimon Dolev
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  5. Shai Tsesses
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Contributions

K.F., K.C., S.T. and G.B. conceived the project. K.F., K.C. and G.B. designed the experiments. K.F., K.C. and J.K.A. performed the experiments. K.C., K.F., S.D. and S.T. performed the sample fabrication. K.F., K.C., S.T. and G.B. analysed the experimental data and wrote the manuscript, with input from the other authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guy Bartal.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Peer review information Nature Photonics thanks Harald Giessen and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Sections 1–7.

Supplementary Video 1

Monitoring the change in the 𝜎̂− component of the plasmonic mode of a circular coupling grating, as the excitation beam is gradually altered from \(\hat \sigma _ -\) to \(\hat \sigma _ +\) circular polarization.

Supplementary Video 2

Monitoring the transition between the two circular in-plane plasmonic field components generated by a \(\hat \sigma _ -\) polarized beam in a circularly symmetric plasmonic excitation, by varying the pump polarization from \(\hat \sigma -\) to \(\hat \sigma +\).

Supplementary Video 3

Monitoring the transition between the two linear in-plane plasmonic field components by rotating the linear polarization of the pump beam.

Supplementary Video 4

Monitoring the transition between the two circular in-plane plasmonic field components generated by a \(\hat \sigma -\) polarized beam in hexagonal plasmonic excitation, by varying the pump polarization from \(\hat \sigma -\) to \(\hat \sigma +\).

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Frischwasser, K., Cohen, K., Kher-Alden, J. et al. Real-time sub-wavelength imaging of surface waves with nonlinear near-field optical microscopy. Nat. Photonics 15, 442–448 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-021-00782-2

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