WAVEGUIDES FOR ENHANCED TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY

摘要

Evanescently-coupled planar waveguides for enhancing total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy are disclosed. The waveguides include multiple thin layers of one or more materials on a cover slip arranged resonantly enhance the optical field at the surface of the layer stack by evanescently coupling to a leaky guided mode.

主权项

1. A cover slip for resonant enhancement of an evanescent optical field, the cover slip comprising: (i) a coupling layer directly adjacent a glass substrate having a refractive index nc and a thickness more than about one-half an optical excitation wavelength; and (ii) one or more guide layers on the coupling layer having a refractive index ngi that is more than a medium of a specimen; wherein nc is less than ngi and wherein a guide layer thickness and guide layer refractive index supports a leaky guided mode.