Sensitivity of Interferometric Cross-Polarization Microscopy for Nanoparticle Detection in the Near-Infrared

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• 作者：Benjamin T. Miles ; Elizabeth C. Robinson ; Erik M. H. P. van Dijk ; Ian D. Lindsay ; Niek F. van Hulst ; Henkjan Gersen
• 刊名：ACS Photonics
• 出版年：2015
• 出版时间：December 16, 2015
• 年：2015
• 卷：2
• 期：12
• 页码：1705-1711
• 全文大小：525K
• ISSN：2330-4022

文摘

We address the sensitivity of Interferometric Cross-Polarization Microscopy by comparing scattering and absorption by spherical 10 nm nanoparticles through a combination of modeling and experiment. We show that orthogonality of light in the two polarization branches of Cross-Polarization Microscopy ensures that only light that has interacted with a nanoparticle is interferometrically enhanced. As a result background-free shot noise-limited detection is achieved for sub-渭W optical powers at the sample. Our modeling in particular shows that in the near-infrared regime, above the plasmon resonance frequency of spherical nanoparticles, the cross-polarization approach is several orders of magnitude more sensitive than conventional extinction based detection. This enhanced near-infrared sensitivity for spherical nanoparticles is promising for applications requiring low absorption and low power imaging of nanoparticles in cells.