Weak-disturbance imaging and characterization of ultra-confined optical near fields
Ultra-confined optical fields are of great importance in fundamental optics and optical technologies. The extreme field confinement in ultra-small nanostructures presents significant challenges in direct near-field characterization. Conventional scanning near-field optical microscopy encounters difficulties in characterizing sub-10-nm confined light fields due to significant disturbances of the optical field caused by the probe. Here, by employing a high spatial-resolved photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM), we succeeded in imaging the ultra-confined near fields of a nanoslit mode in a coupled nanowire pair (CNP) with weak disturbance for the first time and demonstrating a quasi-three-dimensional field distribution of the nanoslit mode. We also show that a PEEM image can identify fabrication defects that are influential to the confined field but are imperceptible to many other means. These results open an opportunity for weak-disturbance characterization of ultra-confined optical near fields, which is an essential step toward future optical devices or technology relying on ultra-confined light.
Authors
- Hongliang Dang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3842-301X)
- Limin Tong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7779-8431)
- Yaolong Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1457-190X)
- Xiaoyong Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1545-1491)
- Xin Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6130-2278)
- Qihuang Gong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4974-6244)
- Hong Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3459-4516)
- Guowei Lü (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0646-6971)
- Xiaofang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3788-5431)
- Wei Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5508-7359)
- Pan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4209-5186)
- Liu Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1246-9271)
- Zhanke Zhou
- Jinglin Tang
- Zini Cao
- Zhaohang Xue
- Yijie Luo
Institutions
- King University (US)
- Zhejiang A & F University (CN)
- Shanxi University (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- Jiaxing University (CN)
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter (CN)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Light Science & Applications
- Published
- 2025-10-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01951-6
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Near-Field Optical Microscopy
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.67
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- National Cancer Institute
- Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province