Biologically enabled sub-diffractive focusing

Data di pubblicazione: 27 Ott 2014

RivistaFonte dati: OPENALEXTipo OpenAlex: articleOpen Access
Autori: Edoardo De Tommasi, Anna Chiara De Luca, Luigi Lavanga, Principia Dardano, Mario De Stefano, Luca De Stefano, Carla Langella, Ivo Rendina, Kishan Dholakia, Michaël Mazilu

Evolution shows that photonic structures are a constituent part of many animals and flora. These elements produce structural color and are useful in predator-prey interactions between animals and in the exploitation of light for photosynthetic organisms. In particular, diatoms have evolved patterned hydrated silica external valves able to confine light with extraordinary efficiency. Their evolution was probably guided by the necessity to survive in harsh conditions of sunlight deprivation. Here, we exploit such diatom valves, in conjunction with structured illumination, to realize a biological super-resolving lens to achieve sub-diffractive focusing in the far field. More precisely, we consider a single diatom valve of Arachnoidiscus genus which shows symmetries and fine features. By characterizing and using the transmission properties of this valve using the optical eigenmode technique, we are able to confine light to a tiny spot with unprecedented precision in terms of resolution limit ratio, corresponding in this case to 0.21λ/NA.

Fonte
Optics Express
Volume
22
Fascicolo
22
Pagine
27214
Citazioni
45
ID archivio
32b187b34eb0e81d8d6f29835a406909
Riferimenti
Volume: 22 Issue: 22 Pages: 27214-27227