Open AccessAnalysis of the surface plasmon resonance interferometric imaging performance of scanning confocal surface plasmon microscopy
Author(s) -
Sorawit Tontarawongsa,
Sarinporn Visitsattapongse,
Suejit Pechprasarn
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
biomedical optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.362
H-Index - 86
ISSN - 2156-7085
DOI - 10.1364/boe.448085
Subject(s) - microscope , optics , surface plasmon resonance , materials science , confocal , confocal microscopy , surface plasmon , microscopy , 4pi microscope , surface plasmon polariton , near field scanning optical microscope , optical microscope , plasmon , conventional transmission electron microscope , physics , scanning electron microscope , scanning transmission electron microscopy , nanotechnology , nanoparticle
Here, we apply rigorous coupled-wave theory to analyze the optical phase imaging performance of scanning confocal surface plasmon microscope. The scanning confocal surface plasmon resonance microscope is an embedded interferometric microscope interfering between two integrated optical beams. One beam is provided by the central part around the normal incident angle of the back focal plane, and the other beam is the incident angles beyond the critical angle, exciting the surface plasmon. Furthermore, the two beams can form an interference signal inside a confocal pinhole in the image plane, which provides a well-defined path for the surface plasmon propagation. The scanning confocal surface plasmon resonance microscope operates by scanning the sample along the optical axis z, so-called V(z). The study investigates two imaging modes: non-quantitative imaging and quantitative imaging modes. We also propose a theoretical framework to analyze the scanning confocal surface plasmon resonance microscope compared to non-interferometric surface plasmon microscopes and quantify quantitative performance parameters including spatial resolution and optical contrast for non-quantitative imaging; sensitivity and crosstalk for quantitative imaging. The scanning confocal SPR microscope can provide a higher spatial resolution, better sensitivity, and lower crosstalk measurement. The confocal SPR microscope configuration is a strong candidate for high throughput measurements since it requires a smaller sensing channel than the other SPR microscopes.