Molecular Scale Imaging with a Smooth Superlens

Abstract

We demonstrate a smooth and low loss silver (Ag) optical superlens capable of resolving features at 1/12th of the illumination wavelength with high fidelity. This is made possible by utilizing state-of-the-art nanoimprint technology and intermediate wetting layer of germanium (Ge) for the growth of flat silver films with surface roughness at sub-nanometer scales. Our measurement of the resolved lines of 30nm half-pitch shows a full-width at half-maximum better than 37nm, in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. The development of this unique optical superlens lead promise to parallel imaging and nanofabrication in a single snapshot, a feat that are not yet available with other nanoscale imaging techniques such as atomic force microscope or scanning electron microscope.