title: Surface-plasmon microscopy with a two-piece solid immersion lens: bright and dark fields.
abstract: We report bright-field and dark-field surface-plasmon imaging using a modified solid immersion lens and a commercial objective of moderate NA in the epi configuration. The contrast and resolution are extremely good, giving well-resolved images of protein monolayers both in air and in water. We also describe a two-part solid immersion lens that allows the sample to be moved without degrading the image quality in any observable way. The merits of the two-part lens are discussed and compared to commercially available microscope objectives. Finally, we introduce a simple Green's function model that illustrates the key features of both bright-field and dark-field surface-plasmon imaging.
authors.affiliation: Applied Optics Group, School of Electronic Engineering, University of Nottingham, UK. eexjz@nottingham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Mark C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Pitter
authors.forename: Shugang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chungwah
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: See
authors.forename: Mike G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Somekh
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D007909:Lenses; D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods