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Molecular Scale Imaging with a Multilayer Superlens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Pratik Chaturvedi and
Nicholas X. Fang
Pratik Chaturvedi
Affiliation:
pchatur2@uiuc.edu, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, 158 Mechanical Engineering Building, MC-244, 1206 W. Green St., Urbana, IL, 61801, United States, 217-265-0570, 217-244-6534
Nicholas X. Fang
Affiliation:
nicfang@uiuc.edu, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, 158 Mechanical Engineering Building, MC-244, 1206 W. Green St., Urbana, IL, 61801, United States
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Abstract

It has been experimentally demonstrated that a single layer of silver functions as a “superlens” [Fang et al, Science 308, 534 (2005)], providing image resolution much better than the diffraction limit. Resolution as high as 60 nanometer (λ/6) half-pitch was achieved. In this paper, we explore the possibility of further refining the image resolution using a “multilayer superlens” design. With optimized design of silver-alumina multilayer superlens, our numerical simulations show a feasibility of resolving 15nm features, about 1/26th of the illumination wavelength. We present preliminary experimental results targeted towards achieving the molecular scale imaging resolution. The development of potential low-loss and high resolution superlens opens the door to exciting applications in nanoscale optical metrology and nanomanufacturing.

Keywords

nanoscaledevicesAg

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