Abstract
One crucial challenge for subwavelength optics has been the development of a tunable source of coherent laser radiation for use in the physical, information and biological sciences that is stable at room temperature and physiological conditions. Current advanced near-field imaging techniques using fibre-optic scattering probes1,2 have already achieved spatial resolution down to the 20-nm range. Recently reported far-field approaches for optical microscopy, including stimulated emission depletion3, structured illumination4, and photoactivated localization microscopy5, have enabled impressive, theoretically unlimited spatial resolution of fluorescent biomolecular complexes. Previous work with laser tweezers6,7,8 has suggested that optical traps could be used to create novel spatial probes and sensors. Inorganic nanowires have diameters substantially below the wavelength of visible light and have electronic and optical properties9,10 that make them ideal for subwavelength laser and imaging technology. Here we report the development of an electrode-free, continuously tunable coherent visible light source compatible with physiological environments, from individual potassium niobate (KNbO3) nanowires. These wires exhibit efficient second harmonic generation, and act as frequency converters, allowing the local synthesis of a wide range of colours via sum and difference frequency generation. We use this tunable nanometric light source to implement a novel form of subwavelength microscopy, in which an infrared laser is used to optically trap and scan a nanowire over a sample, suggesting a wide range of potential applications in physics, chemistry, materials science and biology.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sanchez, E. J., Novotny, L. & Xie, X. S. Near-field fluorescence microscopy based on two-photon excitation with metal tips. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4014–4017 (1999)
Inouye, Y. & Kawata, S. Near-field scanning optical microscope with a metallic probe tip. Opt. Lett. 19, 159–161 (1994)
Donnert, G. et al. Macromolecular-scale resolution in biological fluorescence microscopy. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 103, 11440–11445 (2006)
Gustafsson, M. G. L. Nonlinear structured-illumination microscopy: Wide-field fluorescence imaging with theoretically unlimited resolution. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 102, 13081–13086 (2005)
Betzig, E. et al. Imaging intracellular fluorescent proteins at nanometer resolution. Science 313, 1642–1645 (2006)
Ghislain, L. P. & Webb, W. W. Scanning-force microscope based on an optical trap. Opt. Lett. 18, 1678–1680 (1993)
Florin, E. L. Pralle, A. Horber, J. K. H. & Stelzer, E. H. K. Photonic force microscope based on optical tweezers and two-photon excitation for biological applications. J. Struct. Biol. 119, 202–211 (1997)
Pauzauskie, P. J. et al. Optical trapping and integration of semiconductor nanowire assemblies in water. Nature Mater. 5, 97–101 (2006)
Yang, P. The chemistry and physics of semiconductor nanowires. MRS Bull. 30, 85–91 (2005)
Sirbuly, D. J., Law, M., Yan, H. Q. & Yang, P. D. Semiconductor nanowires for subwavelength photonics integration. J. Phys. Chem. B 109, 15190–15213 (2005)
Johnson, J. C. et al. Near-field imaging of nonlinear optical mixing in single zinc oxide nanowires. Nano Lett. 2, 279–283 (2002)
Johnson, J. C., Yan, H. Q., Yang, P. D. & Saykally, R. J. Optical cavity effects in ZnO nanowire lasers and waveguides. J. Phys. Chem. B 107, 8816–8828 (2003)
Pauzauskie, P. J., Sirbuly, D. J. & Yang, P. D. Semiconductor nanowire ring resonator laser. Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 14903 (2006)
Qian, F. et al. Gallium nitride-based nanowire radial heterostructures for nanophotonics. Nano Lett. 4, 1975–1979 (2004)
Huang, Y., Duan, X., Wei, Q. & Lieber, C. M. Directed assembly of one-dimensional nanostructures into functional networks. Science 291, 630–633 (2001)
Duan, X. F., Huang, Y., Agarwal, R. & Lieber, C. M. Single-nanowire electrically driven lasers. Nature 421, 241–245 (2003)
Kind, H., Yan, H. Q., Messer, B., Law, M. & Yang, P. D. Nanowire ultraviolet photodetectors and optical switches. Adv. Mater. 14, 158–160 (2002)
Law, M. et al. Nanoribbon waveguides for subwavelength photonics integration. Science 305, 1269–1273 (2004)
Shoji, I., Kondo, T., Kitamoto, A., Shirane, M. & Ito, R. Absolute scale of second-order nonlinear-optical coefficients. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 14, 2268–2294 (1997)
Zysset, B., Biaggio, I. & Gunter, P. Refractive indexes of orthorhombic KNbO3. 1. Dispersion and temperature-dependence. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 9, 380–386 (1992)
Kudo, K., Kakiuchi, K., Mizutani, K. & Fukami, T. Characterization of KNbO3 crystal by traveling solvent floating zone (TSFZ) method. Jpn. J.Appl. Phys. Part 1 42, 6099–6101 (2003)
Magrez, A. et al. Growth of single-crystalline KNbO3 nanostructures. J. Phys. Chem. B 110, 58–61 (2006)
Biaggio, I., Kerkoc, P., Wu, L. S., Gunter, P. & Zysset, B. Refractive indexes of orthorhombic KNbO3. 2. Phase-matching configurations for nonlinear-optical interactions. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 9, 507–517 (1992)
Knutsen, K. P., Messer, B. M., Onorato, R. M. & Saykally, R. J. Chirped coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering for high spectral resolution spectroscopy and chemically selective imaging. J. Phys. Chem. B 110, 5854–5864 (2006)
Agarwal, R. et al. Manipulation and assembly of nanowires with holographic optical traps. Opt. Express 13, 8906–8912 (2005)
Ashkin, A., Dziedzic, J. M. & Yamane, T. Optical trapping and manipulation of single cells using infrared-laser beams. Nature 330, 769–771 (1987)
Pohl, D. W., Denk, W. & Lanz, M. Optical stethoscopy—image recording with resolution lambda/20. Appl. Phys. Lett. 44, 651–653 (1984)
Betzig, E., Trautman, J. K., Harris, T. D., Weiner, J. S. & Kostelak, R. L. Breaking the diffraction barrier - optical microscopy on a nanometric scale. Science 251, 1468–1470 (1991)
Florin, E.-L., Pralle, A., Stelzer, E. H. K. & Hörber, J. K. H. Photonic force microscope calibration by thermal noise analysis. Appl. Phys. A 66, 75–78 (1998)
Grier, D. G. A revolution in optical manipulation. Nature 424, 810–816 (2003)
Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by the Dreyfus Foundation and the US Department of Energy (P.Y.), the University of California, Berkeley (J.L.), the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the National Science Foundation, and the NASA SRLDA program (R.M.O. and R.J.S.). Y.N. thanks SONY for a research fellowship and P.J.P. thanks the NSF for a graduate research fellowship. Work at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was supported by the Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Science of the US Department of Energy. We thank T. Kuykendall for transmission electron microscope observations and the National Center for Electron Microscopy for the use of their facilities, L. Sohn for AFM facilities, N. Switz for comments on the manuscript and W. Liang for microfabrication of gold patterns.
Author Contributions Y.N. performed the synthesis and structural characterization of the KNbO3 wires. Y.N. and R.M.O. designed, performed and analysed the wave mixing experiment. P.J.P. and A.R. designed, performed and analysed the laser trapping and nanoprobe imaging experiments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
Reprints and permissions information is available at www.nature.com/reprints. The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information 1
This file contains Supplementary Notes, Supplementary Figures S1-S4 with Legends, Supplementary Table S1 and references. (PDF 314 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nakayama, Y., Pauzauskie, P., Radenovic, A. et al. Tunable nanowire nonlinear optical probe. Nature 447, 1098–1101 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05921
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05921
This article is cited by
-
Oxidation-State-Dependent Nonlinear Absorption of Prussian Blue
Journal of Electronic Materials (2022)
-
Modeling nanostructure thermal conductivity: effect of phonon distribution function
Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (2022)
-
Manufacturing of nanoflowers crystal of ZnQ2 by a co-precipitation process and their morphology-dependent luminescence properties
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics (2021)
-
A photoswitchable polar crystal that exhibits superionic conduction
Nature Chemistry (2020)
-
Optical Trapping and Manipulation Using Optical Fibers
Advanced Fiber Materials (2019)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.