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Physical Review A

Resonance-fluorescence-localization microscopy with subwavelength resolution

Zeyang Liao, M. Al-Amri, Muhammad Suhail Zubairy

Published Feb 9, 2012• 20 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We evaluate the resonance-fluorescence spectrum of a bunch of two-level atoms driven by a gradient coherent laser field. The result shows that we can determine the positions of atoms from the spectrum even when the atoms locate within the subwavelength range and the dipole-dipole interaction is significant. This far-field resonance-fluorescence-localization microscopy method does not require point-by-point scanning, and it may be more time efficient. We also give a possible scheme to extract the position information in an extended region without requiring more peak power of the laser. Finally, we also briefly discuss how to perform two-dimensional imaging based on our scheme.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.85.023810

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We evaluate the resonance-fluorescence spectrum of a bunch of two-level atoms driven by a gradient coherent laser field. The result shows that we can determine the positions of atoms from the spectrum even when the atoms locate within the subwavelength range and the dipole-dipole interaction is significant. This far-field resonance-fluorescence-localization microscopy method does not require point-by-point scanning, and it may be more time efficient. We also give a possible scheme to extract the position information in an extended region without requiring more peak power of the laser. Finally, we also briefly discuss how to perform two-dimensional imaging based on our scheme.
Resonance-fluorescence power spectrum of two-level atoms driven by a strong monochromatic laser field is discussed, taking into account effects due to the dipole-dipole interaction between the atoms. For two atoms confined to a region smaller than the wavelength of the driving field, we predict significant deviations of the power spectrum from the single-atom case. The two-atom spectrum is nonsymmetric, the wing peaks are shifted from their Rabi-frequency positions, and additional maxima may appear.
The resolution of traditional optical microscope and optical lithography is limited by about half wavelength of the light source, which is well known as the diffraction limit or Abbe limit. The resolution limit is due to the missing of high spatial frequency components in the far-field. One way to achieve high resolution is to move the detector into the near-field region where the evanescent wave can be collected. However, these methods are surface-bound and usually very slow which have limited applications. It has long been an interesting and important question about how to overcome the diffraction limit in the far-field.\n\nFor optical lithography, a number of methods have been proposed to overcome the diffraction limit such as multi-photon scanning, quantum entanglement, quantum inspired process (e.g., dopperlon), and quantum dark state. However, these methods either require multi-photon absorber, quantum entanglement, or multi-energy levels, which restrict them from extending to higher resolution in practice. In this thesis, we showed that sub-diffraction-limited resolution can be generated by the coherent Rabi gradient. This method does not require multi-photon absorber or quantum entanglement but just quantum coherence of the medium. Extension from lower resolution to higher resolution is very straightforward where we just need to increase the pulse intensity or pulse duration. We also proposed two atom lithography experiments based on the Rabi gradient. The first one uses Rubidium Rydberg atom and microwave where we showed that sub-micrometer line spacing is possible. The second one uses Chromium atom and optical field where we showed that sub-10nm line spacing is possible while the wavelength of the light is about 400nm.\n\nFor optical imaging, a number of methods have also been proposed to achieve super-resolution such as multi-photon microscope, stimulated-emission-depletion, structured illumination microscopy, centroid-based techniques and metamaterial-based lens. Here, we will show a new method to achieve resolution beyond the diffraction limit which we called it resonance fluorescence microscopy. Resonance fluorescence has been proposed to localize a single atom with resolution beyond the diffraction limit. The separation between two atoms can also be extracted from the resonance\nfluorescence spectrum. To develop it as microscopy, we need to evaluate the resonance fluorescence spectrum of multiple-atom system. We analytically solved the general feature of the spectrum when the Rabi frequency is much larger than the dipole-dipole interaction and showed how to extract the spatial information of the atoms with resolution far beyond the diffraction limit. This method is entirely based on far-field techniques and it does not require point-by-point scanning.
We propose the use of the subwavelength localization via adiabatic passage technique for fluorescence microscopy with nanoscale resolution in the far field. This technique uses a Λ-type medium coherently coupled to two laser pulses: the pump, with a node in its spatial profile, and the Stokes. The population of the Λ system is adiabatically transferred from one ground state to the other except at the node position, yielding a narrow population peak. This coherent localization allows fluorescence imaging with nanometer lateral resolution. We derive an analytical expression to asses the resolution and perform a comparison with the coherent population trapping and the stimulated-emission-depletion techniques.
We present a scheme for sub-half-wavelength localization based on phase-dependent coherent effects on resonance fluorescence. A three-level atom in the Λ configuration is considered. Two metastable states are so separated from each other that the fluorescence spectra from the different transitions do not overlap. Two dipole-allowed transitions and one dipole-forbidden transition are driven by a standing-wave laser field, a travelling-wave laser field and a microwave field, respectively. The spectrum of fluorescence from the standing-wave coupled transition is dependent not only on the position but also on the collective phase of all applied fields. When the phase is varied and fluorescence photons are detected, 50% probability is achieved in a half-wavelength region. This scheme is as efficient as previous ones based on coherence-controlled Autler–Townes spectra.