Off resonant Fano enhanced single molecule resolution imaging with a CW source

Abstract

Apertureless scanning near-field optical microscopy (a-SNOM) is typically limited to ~10 nm resolution by the tip apex size. We demonstrate that ~1-nm resolution can be achieved under continuous-wave (CW) illumination by exploiting Fano path interference. A defect center that naturally forms at the apex of a metal-coated AFM tip acts as a quantum object and induces Fano interference, forcing a stronger but normally off-resonant plasmonic mode (597 nm) to operate effectively on resonance at the driving wavelength (520 nm). Because this interference occurs only beneath the defect, a ~1-nm-wide, strongly enhanced near-field hotspot is created. Using this off-resonant Fano-enhanced field, we achieve single-molecule-resolution imaging based on exact three-dimensional Maxwell simulations.