title: Increased localization precision by interference fringe analysis.
abstract: We report a novel optical single-emitter-localization methodology that uses the phase induced by path length differences in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer to improve localization precision. Using information theory, we demonstrate that the localization capability of a modified Fourier domain signal generated by photon interference enables a more precise localization compared to a standard Gaussian intensity distribution of the corresponding point-spread function. The calculations were verified by numerical simulations and an exemplary experiment, where the centers of metal nanoparticles were localized to a precision of 3 nm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
authors.forename: Carl G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Ebeling
authors.forename: Amihai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meiri
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martineau
authors.forename: Zeev
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zalevsky
authors.forename: Jordan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gerton
authors.forename: Rajesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Menon
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D007368:Interferometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D008027:Light; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity