Dispersion effect in optical microscopy systems with a supersphere solid immersion lens

This paper studies the dispersion effect of the supersphere solid immersion lens (SIL) on a near field optical microscopy system by using the vector diffraction theory. Results show that when a real non-monochromatic beam illuminates a supersphere SIL microscopy, the dispersion effect of the SIL has an important influence on the image quality. As the wavelength bandwidth of the non-monochromatic beam increases, the size of the focused spot increases and its intensity decreases in near-field microscopy systems with a supersphere SIL.     

Wide-field high-resolution structured illumination solid immersion fluorescence microscopy

The use of aplanatic solid immersion lenses (ASILs) made of high-refractive-index optical materials provides a route to wide-field high-resolution optical microscopy. Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) can double the spatial bandwidth of a microscope to also achieve high-resolution imaging. We investigate the combination of ASILs and SIM in fluorescence microscopy, which we call structured illumination solid immersion fluorescence microscopy (SISIM), to pursue a microscopic system with very large NA and high lateral resolution. We demonstrate that the combination can produce a wide-field high-resolution microscopic system with bandwidth corresponding to an NA of 3. Future developments of the SISIM system to make it achieve even higher resolution are proposed.     

超半球形固体浸没透镜系统的亚表面显微

应用矢量衍射理论和薄膜光学方法,研究了有禁带存在时超半球形固体浸没透镜(SIL)系统的亚表面显微。模拟计算结果显示,光斑的强度,边瓣强度和光斑大小随禁带厚度发生振荡。光斑的大小和光斑的强度几乎是反相变化的。当禁带材料的折射率与固体浸没透镜(SIL)的折射率相匹配时,光斑的强度较大,分辨率较高。随着离开样品表面的距离的增加,光斑的强度不断减小,光斑的大小和边瓣强度逐渐增加。     

Subwavelength-size solid immersion lens

We report on the fabrication and characterization of nanoscale solid immersion lenses (nano-SILs) with sizes down to a subwavelength range. Submicrometer-scale cylinders fabricated by electron-beam lithography are thermally reflowed to form a spherical shape. Subsequent soft lithography leads to nano-SILs on transparent substrates for optical characterization. The optical characterization is performed using a high-resolution interference microscope with illumination at 642 nm wavelength. The focal spots produced by the nano-SILs show both spot-size reduction and enhanced optical intensity, which are consistent with the immersion effect.     

Controlled cavitation in microfluidic systems

We report on cavitation in confined microscopic environments which are commonly called microfluidic or lab-on-a-chip systems. The cavitation bubble is created by focusing a pulsed laser into these structures filled with a light-absorbing liquid. At the center of a 20 microm thick and 1 mm wide channel, pancake-shaped bubbles expand and collapse radially. The bubble dynamics compares with a two-dimensional Rayleigh model and a planar flow field during the bubble collapse is measured. When the bubble is created close to a wall a liquid jet is focused towards the wall, resembling the jetting phenomenon in axisymmetry. The jet flow creates two counter-rotating vortices which stir the liquid at high velocities. For more complex geometries, e.g., triangle- and square-shaped structures, the number of liquid jets recorded correlates with the number of boundaries close to the bubble.     

Transport of solid particles in microfluidic channels

Transport of particles is commonly encountered in microfluidic channels that deal with solid-liquid two-phase flows in conjunction with particles and cells to focus, separate, sort, extract, and filter them. In particular, there is a resemblance between microscale flows and macroscale flows in the sense that the inertial migration of particles cannot be neglected. Thus, the objective of the present article is to review how studies on the transport of solid particles have evolved from classical fluid dynamics to up-to-date microfluidics in view of measurement techniques, flow characteristics, and applications.     

Fabrication of micrometer-size glass solid immersion lens

A micrometer-size solid immersion lens (μ-SIL) of glass with a super-spherical shape is obtained using a simple preparation procedure. Soda-lime–silica glass particles are melted on a glassy-carbon substrate with a surface of optical grade and cooled to room temperature. The obtained glass particles are transparent and have a super-spherical shape. Their shapes are found to satisfy the conditions of the SIL function for evanescent-field optics. Fine uneven surface textures of an integrated circuit with the depth of about 20 nm are clearly recognized using the prepared μ-SIL, and 1.8 times higher horizontal resolution than without the μ-SILis also attained. It was ensured that the glass μ-SILworks as the evanescent-field optics to visualize the nanometer-scale structure. PACS 42.70.Ce; 42.79.Bh; 68.03.Cd; 68.08.Bc; 68.37.Uv     

Three-zone phase-only filter increasing the focal depth of optical storage systems with a solid immersion lens

The field distribution of a Weierstrass solid immersion lens (SIL) is presented, which shows that its focal depth is only in nanoscale. A novel filter design based on a three-zone binary phase pupil function is introduced for increasing the focal depth of a near-field Weierstrass SIL system and a procedure for designing a rotationally symmetric binary phase filter is presented. Numerical results show that an appropriate three-zone phase-only filter not only can evidently increase the focal depth of the SIL system, but also can effectively lower the spreading of the spot size with distance and suppress the side-lobe intensity. PACS 42.79.Ci; 42.40.Lx; 42.79.Vb; 42.25.-p     

Numerical analysis of an annular-aperture solid immersion lens

A physical model of an annular-aperture solid immersion lens (SIL) is proposed, and its attractive features are presented numerically with the finite-difference time-domain method. Placing an appropriate annular aperture in front of the SIL shows that the focal depth can evidently be improved, combining the virtues of the annular-aperture technique and the SIL technique. With this proposed method the rigorous distance control condition in related devices can be relaxed, preventing scratches or collisions between the optical head and the recording medium. Potentially, this technique could have great prospects for applications in optical data recording, lithography, and other applications that depend on immersion media to meet the resolution criteria across the image field.     

Multipoint holographic optical velocimetry in microfluidic systems

We show how holographic optical trapping can be used for the multipoint measurement of fluid flow in microscopic geometries. An array of microprobes can be simultaneously trapped and used to map out the fluid flow in a microfluidic device. The optical traps are alternately turned on and off such that the probe particles are displaced by the flow of the surrounding fluid and then retrapped. The particles' displacements are monitored by digital video microscopy and directly converted into velocity field values. This technique enables the measurement of a two-dimensional flow field at points arbitrarily distributed in a three-dimensional volume. The validity of the technique is demonstrated for the case of the flow around a spinning sphere and the flow at the outlet of a microchannel.     

Demonstration of positron re-emission microscopy using an immersion objective

Hulett et al. have suggested forming a magnified image of the positrons re-emitted from a surface having a negative positron affinity as a new kind of microscope, the positron re-emission microscope (PRM). We have built an immersion objective (cathode lens) for the PRM and obtained the first images using a Ni film back-illuminated with 5 keV positrons from a brightness enhanced slow positron beam. The magnification at the detector plane is 330x and the resolution is better than 1m. With the addition of a projector lens the magnification and resolution should be sufficient to observe defect structures and large molecules on the surface.     

Multiple reflection effect inside a hemispherical solid immersion lens

The reflection inside a hemispherical solid immersion lens (h-SIL) is analyzed by using the film-interference optics and the new unique characteristic of the h-SIL is presented. The image theory of SIL microscopy is developed. Numerical results show that the reflection inside the h-SIL, especially for large mismatch in refractive indices between the SIL and the medium, has an important influence on the resolution of SIL surface microscope and the collection efficiency from the emitter. Theoretical and experimental results are compared through three examples, the reflection-mode microscope, the transmission-mode microscope, and the collection of light from the emitters. The present theoretical values are quite consistent with the experimental values in SIL microscopy. It is of interest to note that owing to the interference in the SIL, the resolution and collection efficiency periodically oscillate with the radius of an h-SIL, which mean that the radius of an h-SIL has to be well-controlled to achieve enough high resolution and collection efficiency.     

The validity of high-pass angular spectrum filter in solid immersion lens system

应用矢量方法计算了具有高通角谱滤波器的固体浸没透镜（SIL）系统的焦场分布。数值结果显示，对于径向（角向）偏振输入光，高通角谱滤波器可以减小SIL系统的光斑（暗斑）大小。然而，对于线性偏振输入光，简单的高通角谱滤波器不能够优化SIL系统的光场分布，也不能够改进系统的光存储密度。     

Amorphisation in solid metallic systems

The formation of amorphous alloys by a solid state reaction without any rapid quenching is reviewed. The crystal to glass transition is driven by the large negative heat of mixing of the crystalline reactants. Kinetic constraints assure the formation of an amorphous phase instead of the crystalline equilibrium phases. A comparison with other recently developed methods, like ion beam mixing, and a comparison of some physical properties between differently prepared amorphous alloys of the same composition are given.     

Experimental research on high density data storage using solid immersion lens

We have set up a solid immersion lens (SIL) near-field static recording system for demonstrating preliminarily the feasibility of SIL technology in the higher density storage. The experimental result with recording mark size of 240 nm is obtained corresponding to a potential of density of tens of gigabits per square inch. Some factors in the SIL near-field recording are discussed.     

Evanescent imaging with induced polarization by using a solid immersion lens

Image contrast enhancement, high lateral resolution, and height information are obtained with induced polarization evanescent imaging using a solid immersion lens. Experiments are conducted by imaging features on a patterned Si substrate. Imaging theory is used to predict optimum orientation of high-spatial-frequency samples, and a topographical image is derived from the induced polarization image through a calibration procedure. A numerical aperture of 1.5 is used in the experiment. Height accuracy of +/-2 nm is demonstrated with a known sample.     

Fabrication of LIGA masks for microfluidic analytical systems

Preliminary results of fabrication and testing of LIGA mask samples for deep x-ray lithography in the spectral range of 3.5–13.5 keV are presented. The mask fabrication method is based on direct mask patterning with minimum element sizes of ≥ 10 μm by a synchrotron radiation x-ray microbeam. Such a method does not require an intermediate mask, which significantly simplifies fabrication and reduces the laboriousness and cost of LIGA masks.     

Electron microscopy of pharmaceutical systems

During the last decades, the focus of research in pharmaceutical technology has steadily shifted towards the development and optimisation of nano-scale drug delivery systems. As a result, electron microscopic methods are increasingly employed for the characterisation of pharmaceutical systems such as nanoparticles and microparticles, nanoemulsions, microemulsions, solid lipid nanoparticles, different types of vesicles, nanofibres and many more. Knowledge of the basic properties of these systems is essential for an adequate microscopic analysis. Classical transmission and scanning electron microscopic techniques frequently have to be adapted for an accurate analysis of formulation morphology, especially in case of hydrated colloidal systems. Specific techniques such as environmental scanning microscopy or cryo preparation are required for their investigation. Analytical electron microscopic techniques such as electron energy-loss spectroscopy or energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy are additional assets to determine the elemental composition of the systems, but are not yet standard tools in pharmaceutical research. This review provides an overview of pharmaceutical systems of interest in current research and strategies for their successful electron microscopic analysis. Advantages and limitations of the different methodological approaches are discussed and recent findings of interest are presented.