title: Topography and refractometry of nanostructures using spatial light interference microscopy.
abstract: Spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) is a novel method developed in our laboratory that provides quantitative phase images of transparent structures with a 0.3 nm spatial and 0.03 nm temporal accuracy owing to the white light illumination and its common path interferometric geometry. We exploit these features and demonstrate SLIM's ability to perform topography at a single atomic layer in graphene. Further, using a decoupling procedure that we developed for cylindrical structures, we extract the axially averaged refractive index of semiconductor nanotubes and a neurite of a live hippocampal neuron in culture. We believe that this study will set the basis for novel high-throughput topography and refractometry of man-made and biological nanostructures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology,University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Zhuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ik Su
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Chun
authors.forename: Xiuling
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zhun-Yong
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pop
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Millet
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gillette
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Popescu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology; D008027:Light; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology; D051381:Rats; D012031:Refractometry / Q000379:methods*; D012666:Semiconductors
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon