title: Subdiffraction optical resolution of a gold nanosphere located within the nanojet of a Mie-resonant dielectric microsphere.
abstract: We theoretically investigate light scattering from a bi-sphere system consisting of a gold nanosphere and a lossless dielectric microsphere illuminated at a resonant optical wavelength of the microsphere. Using generalized multisphere Mie theory, we find that a gold nanosphere 100 times smaller than the dielectric microsphere can be detected with a subdiffraction resolution as fine as one-third wavelength in the background medium when the microsphere is illuminated at a Mie resonance. Otherwise, off-resonance, the spatial resolution reverts to that of the nonresonant nanojet, approximately one-half wavelength in the background medium. An important potential biophotonics application is the detection of antibody-conjugated gold nanoparticles attached to the membranes of living cells in an aqueous environment.
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Heifetz
authors: Jamesina J
authors: JJ
authors: Simpson
authors: Soon-Cheol
authors: SC
authors: Kong
authors: Allen
authors: A
authors: Taflove
authors: Vadim
authors: V
authors: Backman