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Study of waveguide background at visible wavelengths for on-chip nanoscopy

Study of waveguide background at visible wavelengths for on-chip nanoscopy
Study of waveguide background at visible wavelengths for on-chip nanoscopy
On-chip super-resolution optical microscopy is an emerging field relying on waveguide excitation with visible light. Here, we investigate two commonly used high-refractive index waveguide platforms, tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) and silicon nitride (Si3N4), with respect to their background with excitation in the range 488–640 nm. The background strength from these waveguides were estimated by imaging fluorescent beads. The spectral dependence of the background from these waveguide platforms was also measured. For 640 nm wavelength excitation both the materials had a weak background, but the background increases progressively for shorter wavelengths for Si3N4. We further explored the effect of the waveguide background on localization precision of single molecule localization for direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM). An increase in background for Si3N4 at 488 nm is shown to reduce the localization precision and thus the resolution of the reconstructed images. The localization precision at 640nm was very similar for both the materials. Thus, for shorter wavelength applications Ta2O5 is preferable. Reducing the background from Si3N4 at shorter wavelengths via improved fabrication will be worth pursuing.
1094-4087
20735-20746
Coucheron, David A.
350eac59-d6ba-4c0a-90cd-658fcf9376e1
Helle, Øystein I.
b57cc491-cb2c-4609-aeb0-d1208701052c
Wilkinson, James S.
73483cf3-d9f2-4688-9b09-1c84257884ca
Murugan, Ganapathy Senthil
a867686e-0535-46cc-ad85-c2342086b25b
Dominguez-Carrió, Carlos
b041df34-f4e3-420b-81f7-d3e8550a9a7d
Angelskår, Hallvard
465af8a4-a916-4526-adc6-10a1fe7b4cc0
Ahluwalia, Balpreet S.
1a4a978b-ae2b-478d-ac6b-126c08361a65
Coucheron, David A.
350eac59-d6ba-4c0a-90cd-658fcf9376e1
Helle, Øystein I.
b57cc491-cb2c-4609-aeb0-d1208701052c
Wilkinson, James S.
73483cf3-d9f2-4688-9b09-1c84257884ca
Murugan, Ganapathy Senthil
a867686e-0535-46cc-ad85-c2342086b25b
Dominguez-Carrió, Carlos
b041df34-f4e3-420b-81f7-d3e8550a9a7d
Angelskår, Hallvard
465af8a4-a916-4526-adc6-10a1fe7b4cc0
Ahluwalia, Balpreet S.
1a4a978b-ae2b-478d-ac6b-126c08361a65

Coucheron, David A., Helle, Øystein I., Wilkinson, James S., Murugan, Ganapathy Senthil, Dominguez-Carrió, Carlos, Angelskår, Hallvard and Ahluwalia, Balpreet S. (2021) Study of waveguide background at visible wavelengths for on-chip nanoscopy. Optics Express, 29 (13), 20735-20746. (doi:10.1364/OE.420844).

Record type: Article

Abstract

On-chip super-resolution optical microscopy is an emerging field relying on waveguide excitation with visible light. Here, we investigate two commonly used high-refractive index waveguide platforms, tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) and silicon nitride (Si3N4), with respect to their background with excitation in the range 488–640 nm. The background strength from these waveguides were estimated by imaging fluorescent beads. The spectral dependence of the background from these waveguide platforms was also measured. For 640 nm wavelength excitation both the materials had a weak background, but the background increases progressively for shorter wavelengths for Si3N4. We further explored the effect of the waveguide background on localization precision of single molecule localization for direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM). An increase in background for Si3N4 at 488 nm is shown to reduce the localization precision and thus the resolution of the reconstructed images. The localization precision at 640nm was very similar for both the materials. Thus, for shorter wavelength applications Ta2O5 is preferable. Reducing the background from Si3N4 at shorter wavelengths via improved fabrication will be worth pursuing.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 29 April 2021
Published date: 17 June 2021
Additional Information: Funding Information: Funding. The publication charges for this article have been funded by a grant from the publication fund of UiT Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Optical Society of America. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 450825
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/450825
ISSN: 1094-4087
PURE UUID: 966e8cba-d4f4-4169-933a-e9515392d8c7
ORCID for James S. Wilkinson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4712-1697
ORCID for Ganapathy Senthil Murugan: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2733-3273

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 12 Aug 2021 16:33
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:03

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Contributors

Author: David A. Coucheron
Author: Øystein I. Helle
Author: Carlos Dominguez-Carrió
Author: Hallvard Angelskår
Author: Balpreet S. Ahluwalia

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