Measuring physical parameters with surface plasmon resonance heterodyne interferometry

If the incident angle of a light beam on the boundary surface between the thin metal film of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) apparatus and a test medium is equal to or very near the resonant angle, then the phase difference between the p- and s-polarizations of the reflected light is related to the associated physical parameter. The phase difference can be measured accurately with heterodyne interferometry. If the relationship between the phase difference and the associated physical parameter is specified, then the associated physical parameter can be estimated from the phase difference data. This method has the benefits of both common-path interferometry and heterodyne interferometry, such as simple structure, high stability, high resolution, easy operation, and rapid real-time measurement.     

Measurement of small differences in refractive indices of solutions with interferometric optical method

Based on the principles of both surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and heterodyne interferometry, an optical method for measuring small differences in refractive indices of solutions was proposed. On a specially designed probe, two light beams are incident on both reference and test solutions. The phase differences between the p- and s-polarizations of each reflected light under SPR condition are measured simultaneously with heterodyne interferometric technique. The phase values are substituted into special equations derived from Fresnel's equations. Finally, the difference between the refractive indices of these two solutions can be estimated. The feasibility of this method was demonstrated and the measurement sensitivity of refractive index can reach a value of at least 8.57×10⁻⁷. This method should bear the merits of a simple structure, easy operation, high sensitivity and rapid measurement.     

Non-contact method for measuring solution concentration using surface plasmon resonance apparatus and heterodyne interferometry

A simple non-contact method is proposed for measuring the concentration of solutions. Using the significant phase difference between p- and s-polarizations of the reflected light of a surface plasmon resonance apparatus, the variation in the phase difference, which is caused by a variation in the concentration of a test solution, can be accurately measured by common path heterodyne interferometry. Then, by substituting the corresponding variation in the incident angle of light at the base of the SPR prism in a specially derived equation, the concentration of the test solution can be determined. The validity of this method was demonstrated experimentally. This method is characterized by the advantages of the device having a simple non-contact structure; it being easy to operate; and its high accuracy, stability, and resolution.     

D-type fiber biosensor based on surface-plasmon resonance technology and heterodyne interferometry

A D-type fiber biosensor based on surface-plasmon resonance (SPR) technology and heterodyne interferometry is presented. The sensing device is a single-mode optical fiber in which half the core is polished away and a thin-film layer of gold is deposited. We measure the phase-difference variations instead of the light intensity as in traditional SPR techniques. Therefore the accuracy and resolution of our method are very high. Its sensitivity can reach 2 x 10(-6) refractive-index units. The sensor has some merits, e.g., tunable high sensitivity, small size, lower cost, smaller sample volume, and suitability for in vivo testing. This novel method of a D-type fiber biosensor based on SPR technology and heterodyne interferometry is valuable for chemical, biological, and biochemical sensing, and the novel method of D-type fiber biosensing is a feasible means of study.     

Surface profile measurement using laser-scanning angle deviation microscopy

Laser-scanning angular deviation microscopy based on the small angle measurement using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phase detection technique is proposed. The phase shift coming from a SPR sensor is measured by a common-path heterodyne interferometry. This phase deviation is proportional to the beam converging or diverging angle, due to the specimen departing from the focal plane of objective lens. Using the phase deviations, one can calculate the surface profile by use of numerical method. The specimen could be scanned in real-time and the axial-resolution could be better than 1 nm. PACS 07.79-v; 68.37.-d; 73.20.Mf; 42.30.Wb; 42.62.Eh     

Optical heterodyne grating shearing interferometry for long-range positioning applications

We develop a displacement measurement and positioning system with nanometer resolution over the millimeter traveling range. The method is based on a heterodyne grating shearing interferometry, a homemade lock-in amplifier and a servo control loop for displacement sensing and positioning. The quasi-common optical path configuration of our system provides better immunity against environmental disturbances. The experimental results demonstrate that our system can measure small and long displacement with nanometric resolution. The device achieves a positioning resolution of 2.3 nm over a traveling range of 20 mm.     

Shape tailoring of hexagonally ordered triangular gold nanoparticles with nanosecond-pulsed laser light

In this contribution recent results on selective and precise tailoring of triangular gold nanoparticles (NPs) using ns-pulsed laser light are presented. The NPs were prepared by nanosphere lithography and subsequently tailored with ns-pulsed laser light using different fluences and wavelengths. The method is based on the size and shape dependent localized surface plasmon polariton resonance (SPR) of the NPs. We will demonstrate that the gap size between triangular NPs can be tuned from approximately 102±14 nm to 122±11 nm, due to a shape change of the NP from triangular to oblate. These morphological changes are accompanied by a significant shift of the surface plasmon resonance from λ_SPR=730 nm to λ_SPR=680 nm. Most importantly if the laser wavelength is chosen such that the dipolar SPR is excited, the hexagonal order of the NPs remains intact after irradiation, in contrast to excitation via the quadrupole SPR or within the interband transition. A tuneable gap size and the conservation of the hexagonal order of the NP array is the precondition for applications, where the NPs should serve as anchor points, e.g. for functional molecular nanowires, which can be used to utilize molecular devices.     

Phase-shift interferometry combined with surface plasmon resonance effect for two-dimensional bio-surface analysis

The phase-shift interferometry combined with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect has been studied as a novel technique used to analyze the bio-surface, which measures the spatial phase variation of SPR reflected light. The spatial sensitivity of the SPR imaging sensor is improved over the conventional SPR imaging systems based on optical intensity.     

Measurement of air refractive index based on surface plasmon resonance and phase detection

A method for refractive index of air measurement is presented based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and phase detection using a dual-frequency laser interferometer. Theoretical analyses indicate that the phase-difference variation of the measurement signal versus the reference signal is linear with refractive index of air (RIA) fluctuation, and the calculation formula of RIA is derived. The structure design of the self-adaptive SPR sensor greatly reduces the measurement error resulting from the incident angle shift and improves the sensitivity. The experiments show that measurement uncertainty of 10(-6) order has been achieved when phase detection precision is 0.1°. The phenomenon of sudden phase variation during air pumping and air filling, which is caused by temperature fluctuation, is discussed.     

Measurement of refractive index variation of liquids by surface plasmon resonance and wavelength-modulated heterodyne interferometry

In this study an alternative method based on surface plasmon resonance is proposed for in-situ monitoring of variation in the refractive index of a test sample. A wavelength-modulated light source and an unequal-path-length optical configuration heterodyne interferometer are used to detect the phase difference change, which can then be used to estimate the change in the refractive index of a test sample. The experimental results demonstrate a phase stability of 0.02°. The resolution power of the refractive index is 1.5 × 10^− 6 RIU. This method has several advantages over previously used methods such as simple optical setup, easier operation in real time, and low cost.     

Heterodyne interferometer for displacement measurement with amplitude quadrature and noise suppression

The high precision displacement measurement in nanoscale is crucial to many applications. We present a heterodyne interferometry with differential phase to amplitude conversion scheme for displacement measurement in nanoscale. In this approach, the differential phase introduced by the displacement is converted into the amplitudes of heterodyne signals in quadrature. Meanwhile, the heterodyne signals in phase quadrature are also achieved so that the displacement can be determined from the amplitude ratio of the quadrature signals, and the direction of displacement can be determined from the phase quadrature. Since the differential phase to quadrature amplitude conversion is achieved through the optical addition and subtraction by polarization tuning, which are based on differential detection concept. Thus the proposed method benefits from the features of differential detection with common phase noise and correlated amplitude noise rejection and that of quadrature detection with real time and wide dynamic range of phase measurement. To demonstrate the capability of proposed method in differential phase measurement, we measure the displacement drove by a commercially available PZT pusher and found close agreement between the experiment and the theory. The experimental evidence of noise suppression is also found with spectral measurements, which demonstrates the resolution of displacement measurement at 60 pm and minimum detectable differential phase of 5.6 × 10⁻⁶ rad/ over 50 kHz.     

Temporal heterodyne shearing speckle pattern interferometry

Shearing speckle pattern interferometry is a full-field speckle interferometric technique used to determine surface displacement derivatives. In this paper, a new measurement system of real-time heterodyne shearography interferometry is presented. This system combined with heterodyne measurement, shearography interferometry and time domain signal processing technology can dynamically detect the out-of-plane displacement gradient. The principles and system arrangement are described. Using the Jones matrix, the mathematical expression of light intensity distribution passing through this system is deduced. A preliminary experiment was performed to demonstrate the performance of this new device, and simulations were conducted using the finite element method. Comparison of results shows that quantitative measurement of the displacement derivative has been achieved.     

Measuring small wavelength differences by heterodyne interferometry and optical activity of chiral crystal

The optical activity of a chiral crystal and common-path heterodyne interferometry are used in a simple measurement technique that was developed to measure small wavelength differences. When circularly polarized heterodyne light passes through a chiral crystal, the plane of polarization rotates. The phase difference between the right- and left-circular lights is directly proportional to the angle of rotation. The rotation angle depends strongly on the wavelength. The phase difference can be accurately detected and substituted into specially derived equations to estimate wavelength variations. The feasibility of this method was demonstrated and the wavelength sensitivity was about 0.00812 nm. This method provides the advantages of a simple structure, ease of operations, a large wavelength measurement range and high sensitivity.     

Linearization methods of laser interferometers for pico/nano positioning stages

Presented work introduces methods for improving linearity of a heterodyne laser interferometer system. The heterodyne configuration exhibits high potential in demanding applications, like pico/nano positioning. Those applications require superior accuracy, more difficult to obtain in a homodyne configuration of the laser interferometer. The homodyne setup is more susceptible to external light, variation of DC offset and higher noises, especially the 1/f noise. Those issues are filtered out in the heterodyne configuration. The main disadvantage of heterodyne setup are higher measurement nonlinearities. In this paper there are first introduced sources of nonlinearities and their impact on the overall accuracy. According to those findings there are proposed techniques to eliminate error caused by parasite beams, i.e. nonlinearities. Presented method is based on digital signal processing and is reliable and easy to use. In the shown approach the nonlinearities correction is completely automatic. Such system is applicable for X/Y positioning stages. Presented configuration of the laser interferometer is able to track the displacement with 100 pm resolution up to 7 m/s of translation velocity. The resolution can be improved to 10 pm by limitation of maximal velocity. In the paper there is confirmed that errors caused by nonlinearities are in range of ±0.6 nm. Achieved accuracy is comparable to capacitance gauges with presented laser interferometer having much better dynamic range.     

用表面等离子体共振传感器检测纳米间距

结合物理光学原理和表面等离子体共振（SPR）角度传感器,提出了可以突破衍射极限的纳米间距检测方法。在理论上建立起纳米间距和位相改变量之间的函数关系,借助于SPR角度传感器的高灵敏性,提出通过检测出射光束振动方向的p分量和s分量的位相差值来实现纳米间距的实时检测。模拟结果显示：纳米间距改变量从-0.5～0.5μm变化时,位相改变量可实现-150°～150°的变化,检测灵敏度〉1 nm。该检测方法能够实现10 nm以下间距的灵敏检测,且具有结构简单,易于操作,实时检测的特点。     

Reflection type heterodyne grating interferometry for in-plane displacement measurement

A novel method is presented for one-dimensional (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) in-plane displacements measurement that is based on the heterodyne grating interferometry. The novel setup of the optical configuration reduces the airstreams disturbance and maintains the environmental vibration at minimum level, allowing high stability and low measurement error to be achieved. Resulting from the theoretical calculation, our method can be sensitive to the sub-picometer level. With highly controlled isolation system, the low frequency noise can be reduced to minimum level, and only high frequency noises are considered, our method can achieve the resolution about 0.5 nm within 250 μm displacement. In addition, 2-D in-plane displacement measurement can be accomplished with a single interferometer simultaneously.     

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) reflectance imaging: Far-field recognition of near-field phenomena

The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) reflectance imaging technique provides a label-free visualization tool to characterize the near-field fluidic transport properties within 100 nm from the solid surface. The key idea is that the SPR reflectance intensity varies with the near-field refractive index (RI) of the test fluid, which in turn depends on the micro- and nano-fluidic scalar properties such as concentrations, temperatures, and phase changes, occurring in the near-field. As essential knowledge to understand and implement the SPR reflectance imaging technique, this paper presents discussions on the basics of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), surface plasmon resonance (SPR), setup of the SPR reflectance imaging system, and the SPR reflectance imaging resolution. The second part of the paper elaborates the applications of the SPR imaging sensor technique in characterizing the near-field fingerprints of nanofluidic evaporative self-assembly.     

Improvement of confocal microscope performance by shaped annular beam and heterodyne confocal techniques

In order to further improve the performance of a confocal microscope (CM) used for measurement of surface profiles and 3D microstructures, a shaped annular beam heterodyne confocal measurement method based on annular pupil filter technique and reflection confocal microscopy, is proposed to expand the measurement range and to improve the defocused property of CM. The approach proposed uses a confocal dual-receiving light path arrangement and a heterodyne subtraction of two signals received from detectors with axial offset to enable CM to be used for bipolar absolute measurement and to improve the defocused property of CM, and it uses the annular pupil filter technique to produce a binary optical shaped annular beam, which expands the measurement range by expanding the full-width at half-maximum of intensity curve received from two detectors in a heterodyne confocal microscopy system. Theoretical analyses and experimental results indicate that a shaped annular beam heterodyne microscope has a measurement range expanded from 4 to 14 μm, achieved an axial resolution of 2 nm and improved the defocused property, when ε=0.5 and NA=0.65. It can be therefore concluded that the shaped annular beam heterodyne confocal measuring method proposed is a new approach to ultraprecision measurement of surface profiles and 3D microstructures.     

Surface plasmon resonance biosensor modified with multilayer silver nanoparticles films

We alternately deposited negatively charged Ag-(3-mercaptopropionic acid) (Ag-MPA) sol and positively charged poly-(diallyldimethylammonium) (PDDA) on gold substrate modified with 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP), through electrostatic layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly. We characterized the prepared three-dimensional Ag/PDDA multilayer films by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and atomic force microscope (AFM). The thickness of each film in the multilayer films, the deposition effect of Ag nanoparticles, and the processing of DNA adsorption are characterized by SPR. AFM characterization shows that DNA/3(PDDA/Ag)/4-ATP composite is uniformly and firmly distributed on the surface of gold films. Compared with other sensors, gentamicin could be highly sensitively measured by DNA/3(PDDA/Ag)/4-ATP/Au sensor. There is a good linear relationship in the concentration range of 5 × 10⁻⁸ to 1 × 10⁻⁴ mol/L. The linear equation is found to be Δθ_SPR = 1.3521 × 10⁻⁵c + 0.08641 (the correlation coefficient is 0.9983) with detection limit of 1 × 10⁻⁹ mol/L. Since such LBL assembly film is simple to prepare, the work described here provides an effective method for studying small molecule drugs on SPR.     

Optical fiber SPR biosensor with sandwich assay for the detection of prostate specific antigen

We present a new, sensitive, few mode fiber (FMF) surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor with a sandwich assay for the detection of PSA. The side-polished FMF biosensor does not need a polarizer and a thin high-index overlayer. The optical sensitivity of the SPR sensor was determined as 2.5 × 10⁻⁶ RIU. In the SPR PSA sensor, the SPR signals were amplified by a factor of 6 in average over no secondary antibody, using the sandwich assay. The proposed FMF SPR biosensor has great potential for real-time analysis of immune reaction between biomolecules and the advantages of high-sensitivity and label-free detection.