摘要
A major challenge with studying plasmon-mediated emission events is the small size of plasmonic nanoparticles relative to the wavelength of light. Objects smaller than roughly half the wavelength of light will appear as diffraction-limited spots in far-field optical images, presenting a significant experimental challenge for studying plasmonic processes on the nanoscale. Super-resolution imaging has recently been applied to plasmonic nanosystems and allows plasmon-mediated emission to be resolved on the order of ~5 nm. In super-resolution imaging, a diffraction-limited spot is fit to some model function in order to calculate the position of the emission centroid, which represents the loca- tion of the emitter. However, the accuracy of the centroid position strongly depends on how well the fitting function describes the data. This Perspective discusses the commonly used two-dimensional Gaussian fitting function applied to super-resolution imaging of plasmon-mediated emission, then introduces an alternative model based on dipole point spread flmctions. The two fitting models are compared and contrasted for super-resolution imaging of nanoparticle scattering/luminescence, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, and surface-enhanced fluorescence.
A major challenge with studying plasmon-mediated emission events is the small size of plasmonic nanoparticles relative to the wavelength of light. Objects smaller than roughly half the wavelength of light will appear as diffraction-limited spots in far-field optical images, presenting a significant experimental challenge for studying plasmonic processes on the nanoscale. Super-resolution imaging has recently been applied to plasmonic nanosystems and allows plasmon-mediated emission to be resolved on the order of ~5 nm. In super-resolution imaging, a diffraction-limited spot is fit to some model function in order to calculate the position of the emission centroid, which represents the loca- tion of the emitter. However, the accuracy of the centroid position strongly depends on how well the fitting function describes the data. This Perspective discusses the commonly used two-dimensional Gaussian fitting function applied to super-resolution imaging of plasmon-mediated emission, then introduces an alternative model based on dipole point spread flmctions. The two fitting models are compared and contrasted for super-resolution imaging of nanoparticle scattering/luminescence, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, and surface-enhanced fluorescence.
