Abstract

We report on microscopic imaging of phospholipid membranes. To achieve nonlabel, noncontact, and high spatial resolution imaging of the membranes, we use optically excited localized surface plasmons as a virtual measurement probe to obtain the local refractive index. This enables significantly higher lateral resolution of $\sim 170\mathrm{nm}$. We reveal that the developed microscope has the capability of observing lipid bilayers with thickness of $3.0\mathrm{nm}$ deposited into the gaps in a patterned lipid bilayer with thickness of $4.6\mathrm{nm}$. We find that the thickness resolution against the deposited lipid bilayer is $\sim 0.33\mathrm{nm}$.

© 2010 Optical Society of America

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