Microsphere Assisted Super-resolution Optical Imaging of Plasmonic Interaction between Gold Nanoparticles

Conventional far-field microscopy cannot directly resolve the sub-diffraction spatial distribution of localized surface plasmons in metal nanostructures. Using BaTiO3 microspheres as far-field superlenses by collecting the near-field signal, we can map the origin of enhanced two-photon photoluminescence signal from the gap region of gold nanosphere dimers and gold nanorod dimers beyond the diffraction limit, on a conventional far-field microscope. As the angle theta between dimer's structural axis and laser polarisation changes, photoluminescence intensity varies with a cos(4)theta function, which agrees quantitatively with numerical simulations. An optical resolution of about lambda/7 (lambda: two-photon luminescence central wavelength) is demonstrated at dimer's gap region.