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Picophotonic localization metrology beyond thermal fluctuations

Picophotonic localization metrology beyond thermal fluctuations
Picophotonic localization metrology beyond thermal fluctuations

Despite recent tremendous progress in optical imaging and metrology 1–6, there remains a substantial resolution gap between atomic-scale transmission electron microscopy and optical techniques. Is optical imaging and metrology of nanostructures exhibiting Brownian motion possible with such resolution, beyond thermal fluctuations? Here we report on an experiment in which the average position of a nanowire with a thermal oscillation amplitude of ∼150 pm is resolved in single-shot measurements with subatomic precision of 92 pm, using light at a wavelength of λ = 488 nm, providing an example of such sub-Brownian metrology with ∼λ/5,300 precision. To localize the nanowire, we employ a deep-learning analysis of the scattering of topologically structured light, which is highly sensitive to the nanowire’s position. This non-invasive metrology with absolute errors down to a fraction of the typical size of an atom, opens a range of opportunities to study picometre-scale phenomena with light.

1476-1122
844-847
Liu, Tongjun
53eb4a71-ea7b-4aa7-b96d-b70c5df1dd63
Chi, Cheng-Hung
69d97711-d0d1-4e58-a19e-92599d7a4519
Ou, Jun-Yu
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Xu, Jie
9221b478-b998-445a-8719-67f535043748
Chan, Eng Aik
8ddf6988-1cd5-445c-97e7-c3e0a9fef4f2
MacDonald, Kevin F.
76c84116-aad1-4973-b917-7ca63935dba5
Zheludev, Nikolai
32fb6af7-97e4-4d11-bca6-805745e40cc6
Liu, Tongjun
53eb4a71-ea7b-4aa7-b96d-b70c5df1dd63
Chi, Cheng-Hung
69d97711-d0d1-4e58-a19e-92599d7a4519
Ou, Jun-Yu
3fb703e3-b222-46d2-b4ee-75f296d9d64d
Xu, Jie
9221b478-b998-445a-8719-67f535043748
Chan, Eng Aik
8ddf6988-1cd5-445c-97e7-c3e0a9fef4f2
MacDonald, Kevin F.
76c84116-aad1-4973-b917-7ca63935dba5
Zheludev, Nikolai
32fb6af7-97e4-4d11-bca6-805745e40cc6

Liu, Tongjun, Chi, Cheng-Hung, Ou, Jun-Yu, Xu, Jie, Chan, Eng Aik, MacDonald, Kevin F. and Zheludev, Nikolai (2023) Picophotonic localization metrology beyond thermal fluctuations. Nature Materials, 22 (7), 844-847. (doi:10.1038/s41563-023-01543-y).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Despite recent tremendous progress in optical imaging and metrology 1–6, there remains a substantial resolution gap between atomic-scale transmission electron microscopy and optical techniques. Is optical imaging and metrology of nanostructures exhibiting Brownian motion possible with such resolution, beyond thermal fluctuations? Here we report on an experiment in which the average position of a nanowire with a thermal oscillation amplitude of ∼150 pm is resolved in single-shot measurements with subatomic precision of 92 pm, using light at a wavelength of λ = 488 nm, providing an example of such sub-Brownian metrology with ∼λ/5,300 precision. To localize the nanowire, we employ a deep-learning analysis of the scattering of topologically structured light, which is highly sensitive to the nanowire’s position. This non-invasive metrology with absolute errors down to a fraction of the typical size of an atom, opens a range of opportunities to study picometre-scale phenomena with light.

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Accepted/In Press date: 28 March 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 May 2023
Published date: July 2023
Additional Information: Funding Information: This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK (grant number EP/T02643X/1; N.I.Z., K.F.M., J.-Y.O.), the Ministry of Education, Singapore (MOE2016-T3-1-006; N.I.Z.), the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF-CRP23-2019-0006) and the China Scholarship Council (201806160012; T.L.). Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 475700
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/475700
ISSN: 1476-1122
PURE UUID: e2f9193d-b745-493c-9804-3aa6f1d6a08f
ORCID for Jun-Yu Ou: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8028-6130
ORCID for Jie Xu: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8421-5097
ORCID for Kevin F. MacDonald: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3877-2976
ORCID for Nikolai Zheludev: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1013-6636

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 24 Mar 2023 18:08
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:49

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Contributors

Author: Tongjun Liu
Author: Cheng-Hung Chi
Author: Jun-Yu Ou ORCID iD
Author: Jie Xu ORCID iD
Author: Eng Aik Chan
Author: Kevin F. MacDonald ORCID iD
Author: Nikolai Zheludev ORCID iD

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