Expand this Topic clickable element to expand a topic
Skip to content
Optica Publishing Group

Stabilization of an optical microscope to 0.1 nm in three dimensions

Not Accessible

Your library or personal account may give you access

Abstract

Mechanical drift is a long-standing problem in optical microscopy that occurs in all three dimensions. This drift increasingly limits the resolution of advanced surface-coupled, single-molecule experiments. We overcame this drift and achieved atomic-scale stabilization (0.1  nm) of an optical microscope in 3D. This was accomplished by measuring the position of a fiducial mark coupled to the microscope cover slip using back-focal-plane (BFP) detection and correcting for the drift using a piezoelectric stage. Several significant factors contributed to this experimental realization, including (i) dramatically reducing the low frequency noise in BFP detection, (ii) increasing the sensitivity of BFP detection to vertical motion, and (iii) fabricating a regular array of nanometer-sized fiducial marks that were firmly coupled to the cover slip. With these improvements, we achieved short-term (1  s) stabilities of 0.11, 0.10, and 0.09  nm (rms) and long-term (100  s) stabilities of 0.17, 0.12, and 0.35  nm (rms) in x, y, and z, respectively, as measured by an independent detection laser.

© 2007 Optical Society of America

Full Article  |  PDF Article
More Like This
Measuring 0.1-nm motion in 1 ms in an optical microscope with differential back-focal-plane detection

Lora Nugent-Glandorf and Thomas T. Perkins
Opt. Lett. 29(22) 2611-2613 (2004)

Back-scattered detection provides atomic-scale localization precision, stability, and registration in 3D

Ashley R. Carter, Gavin M. King, and Thomas T. Perkins
Opt. Express 15(20) 13434-13445 (2007)

Ultrastable measurement platform: sub-nm drift over hours in 3D at room temperature

Robert Walder, D. Hern Paik, Matthew S. Bull, Carl Sauer, and Thomas T. Perkins
Opt. Express 23(13) 16554-16564 (2015)

Cited By

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Figures (6)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Figure files are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Select as filters


Select Topics Cancel
© Copyright 2024 | Optica Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved