Graphene on meta-surface for super-resolution optical imaging with a sub-10 nm resolution

Nowadays, wide-field of view plasmonic structured illumination method (WFPSIM) has been extensively studied and experimentally demonstrated in biological researches. Normally, noble metal structures are used in traditional WFPSIM to support ultrahigh wave-vector of SPs and an imaging resolution enhancement of 3-4 folds can be achieved. To further improve the imaging resolution of WFPSIM, we hereby propose a widefield optical nanoimaging method based on a hybrid graphene on meta-surface structure (GMS) model. It is found that an ultra-high wave-vector of graphene SPs can be excited by a metallic nanoslits array with localized surface plasmon enhancement. As a result, a standing wave surface plasmons (SW-SPs) interference pattern with a period of 11 nm for a 980 nm incident wavelength can be obtained. The potential application of the GMS for wide-field of view super-resolution imaging is discussed followed by simulation results which show that an imaging resolution of sub-10 nm can be achieved. The demonstrated method paves a new route for wide field optical nanoimaging, with applications e.g. in biological research to study biological processes occurring in cell membrane. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America