Single-mode limit and bending losses for shallow Rib Si3N4 waveguides

Published version also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JPHOT.2014.2387252.The single-mode limit and bending losses for shallow rib waveguides are studied using the full vectorial film mode matching method. The maximum rib height for single-mode waveguides is found to be on the order of 10 nm for a rib width of 2 m and a wavelength of 785 nm, with the exact value depending on the core thickness and the polarization. Bending losses are calculated as a function of several geometrical parameters, for both polarizations and for the fundamental and the first order modes. Bending losses decrease significantly with rib height for single-mode waveguides. For slightly larger rib heights, giving multimode waveguides, it is found that the bending losses for the first-order mode are several orders of magnitude larger than for the fundamental mode. Thus, a small bend can act as an excellent mode filter, making it possible to use higher ribs giving low bending losses for the fundamental mode, while maintaining the waveguide practically single-mode. For TM-polarization, leakage loss can be important and can cause bending losses to increase for larger rib heights (8–80 nm)

Transmission structured illumination microscopy with tunable frequency illumination using tilt mirror assembly

We present experimental demonstration of tilt-mirror assisted transmission structured illumination microscopy (tSIM) that offers a large field of view super resolution imaging. An assembly of custom-designed tilt-mirrors are employed as the illumination module where the sample is excited with the interference of two beams reflected from the opposite pair of mirror facets. Tunable frequency structured patterns are generated by changing the mirror-tilt angle and the hexagonal-symmetric arrangement is considered for the isotropic resolution in three orientations. Utilizing high numerical aperture (NA) objective in standard SIM provides super-resolution compromising with the field-of-view (FOV). Employing low NA (20X/0.4) objective lens detection, we experimentally demonstrate ∼ (0.56 mm× 0.35 mm) size single FOV image with ∼ 1.7- and ∼ 2.4-fold resolution improvement (exploiting various illumination by tuning tilt-mirrors) over the diffraction limit. The results are verified both for the fluorescent beads as well as biological samples. The tSIM geometry decouples the illumination and the collection light paths consequently enabling free change of the imaging objective lens without influencing the spatial frequency of the illumination pattern that are defined by the tilt-mirrors. The large and scalable FOV supported by tSIM will find usage for applications where scanning large areas are necessary as in pathology and applications where images must be correlated both in space and time

Label-free nanoscopy enabled by coherent imaging with photonic waveguides

SPIE Article-Sharing Policies https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/article-sharing-policiesIn this project it was found that Fourier ptychographic microscopy can be improved far beyond its conventional limits via waveguide-based optical systems. Extensive in silico studies showed that images obtained on highrefractive index material waveguide chips in conjunction with hyperspectral illumination light and finely designed waveguide geometries can be combined via a modified phase-retrieval algorithm to yield a resolution below 150 nm

Super-condenser enables labelfree nanoscopy.

Labelfree nanoscopy encompasses optical imaging with resolution in the 100 nm range using visible wavelengths. Here, we present a labelfree nanoscopy method that combines Fourier ptychography with waveguide microscopy to realize a 'super-condenser' featuring maximally inclined coherent darkfield illumination with artificially stretched wave vectors due to large refractive indices of the employed Si$_3$N$_4$ waveguide material. We produce the required coherent plane wave illumination for Fourier ptychography over imaging areas 400 $\mathrm{\mu}$m$^2$ in size via adiabatically tapered single-mode waveguides and tackle the overlap constraints of the Fourier ptychography phase retrieval algorithm two-fold: firstly, the directionality of the illumination wave vector is changed sequentially via a multiplexed input structure of the waveguide chip layout and secondly, the wave vector modulus is shortend via step-wise increases of the illumination light wavelength over the visible spectrum. We validate the method via in silico and in vitro experiments and provide details on the underlying image formation theory as well as the reconstruction algorithm

Super-condenser enables labelfree nanoscopy.

Labelfree nanoscopy encompasses optical imaging with resolution in the 100 nm range using visible wavelengths. Here, we present a labelfree nanoscopy method that combines coherent imaging techniques with waveguide microscopy to realize a super-condenser featuring maximally inclined coherent darkfield illumination with artificially stretched wave vectors due to large refractive indices of the employed Si3N4 waveguide material. We produce the required coherent plane wave illumination for Fourier ptychography over imaging areas 400 μm2 in size via adiabatically tapered single-mode waveguides and tackle the overlap constraints of the Fourier ptychography phase retrieval algorithm two-fold: firstly, the directionality of the illumination wave vector is changed sequentially via a multiplexed input structure of the waveguide chip layout and secondly, the wave vector modulus is shortend via step-wise increases of the illumination light wavelength over the visible spectrum. We test the method in simulations and in experiments and provide details on the underlying image formation theory as well as the reconstruction algorithm. While the generated Fourier ptychography reconstructions are found to be prone to image artefacts, an alternative coherent imaging method, rotating coherent scattering microscopy (ROCS), is found to be more robust against artefacts but with less achievable resolution