title: Surface plasmon resonance imaging of cell-substrate contacts with radially polarized beams.
abstract: We demonstrate the proof-of-concept for surface plasmon resonance sensing and imaging via a virtual probe at the cell-substrate interface of a biological cell in aqueous media. The technique is based on the optical excitation by focused radially polarized beams of localized surface plasmons, which forms a virtual probe on the metal substrate. The intensity distribution at the back focal plane of the objective lens enables quantitative measurements to be made of the cell-substrate contact. The acquired data is then visualized in the form of a local refractive index map.
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Moh
authors.forename: X-C
authors.initials: XC
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bu
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Bruce Z
authors.initials: BZ
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods*; D012031:Refractometry / Q000379:methods*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000379:methods*