Analysis of Sensitivity and Resolution in Plasmonic Microscopes

This book provides readers a theoretical framework to understand different types of surface plasmon (SP) microscope setups through the rigorous diffraction theory. The framework analyses the diffraction process through rigorous wave coupled analysis (RCWA) and a software package processes the diffracted orders to recover the microscope response for a range of different systems. In this book I will investigate the non-interferometric SP microscope, interferometric SP microscope and confocal SP microscope. I will show that the non-interferometric system exhibits a trade-off between lateral resolution and sensitivity, where an image obtained with a good contrast will have low lateral resolution. In order to get around the trade-off, the interferometric system can be employed; however, the main challenge for the interferometric setup is its optical alignment. I will show that a confocal SP microscope, which has been developed as a part of my doctoral degree, can simplify the complexity of the interferometric system and give similar measurement performance.