Finite-Dierence Time-Domain Analysis of Refractive Index

Grating on Planar Light Waveguide Circuit

with Optically Trapped Gold Particles
Ryosuke YOTSUTANI and Hiroo UKITA
+
Faculty of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577, Japan
(Received April 24, 2009; Accepted November 17, 2009)
The super-resolution capability of scanning near-eld optical microscopy (SNOM) with a gold particle is studied by the
two-dimensional nite-dierence time-domain (2D FDTD) method. We obtain SNOM signals by integrating the far
eld within the numerical aperture of an objective lens for a refractive index grating by scanning optically trapped gold
particles with dierent diameters illuminated by focused laser light at the wavelength of 515 nm. The signal is strong at
a high refractive index of the grating and exhibits similar behavior to that obtained in the experiment with the grating
fabricated on a planar light waveguide circuit with a period of 1060 nm. Furthermore, the signal modulation increases
as the gold particle diameter decreases and reaches 0.82 at a diameter of 50 nm.
# 2010 The Japan Society of Applied Physics
Keywords: SNOM, gold particle, FDTD, far eld, refractive index grating, optical tweezers
1. Introduction
The idea of using a small aperture for high-resolution
microscopy was reported a long time ago. Imaging in
reection by scanning near-eld microscopy (SNOM) was
demonstrated with an aperture probe by Fischer et al. in
1988.
1)
In the 1990s, Betzig invented a pulled-ber probe
with a metal coating, and with his coworkers, demonstrated
various applications in super-resolution microscopy.
2)
Ohtsu
and his group fabricated many sophisticated sharpened
structured ber probes, and they are also developing atom-
manipulation techniques using near-eld light.
3)
Kawata
et al. developed a new concept of physics and instrumenta-
tion by combining near-eld and surface plasmon polar-
itons.
4)
A surface plasmon (SP) existing on a metal surface causes
strong eld enhancement at the interface,
5,6)
leading to
scattering-type SNOM
7,8)
A metal particle probe is consid-
ered not only to increase the SNOM signal, but also has the
advantage of high experimental reproducibility (same shape
and size of particles) and does not require control from a
distance. A gold particle is frequently used as a SNOM
probe owing to its chemical stability.
9)
We demonstrated the observation of a refractive index
grating on a planar light waveguide circuit (PLC) surface by
scanning an optically trapped 100-nm-diameter gold par-
ticle.
8)
The scattered Ar

laser light from the gold particle

was strong at the high refractive index of the grating with
periods of 1060 nm.
In this study, we compute the SNOM signal by the two-
dimensional nite-dierence time-domain (2D FDTD)
method. The signal is obtained by integrating the far eld
within the numerical aperture of 1.3 for an objective lens
with dierent gold diameters illuminated by focused laser
light at the wavelength of 515 nm and compared with the
experimental result.
2. Experimental Analysis with 100-nm-Diameter Gold
Particle
Figure 1(a) shows the main part of an experimental setup
to trap a gold particle with an upward-directed Nd:YAG
laser beam (' = 1060 nm) and to scan it on the sample
surface two-dimensionally using an XY stage. The gold
particle at the focal point of the NA = 1.3 immersion-oil
objective lens is in the medium of the chamber and is
trapped onto the sample surface and scanned, as shown in
the gure.
An Ar

laser (' = 515 nm) is focused through the same

objective lens to illuminate the particle. The scattered light
from the gold particle is collected within the objective lens
aperture and imaged at the pinhole (5 mm in diameter) in
front of a photomultiplier tube. The collected scattered light
variation due to the interaction between the gold particle and
the sample surface is recorded.
The sample is a refractive index grating fabricated by UV
exposure through a phase mask. The grating has the period
Fig. 1. Main part of experimental setup, the sample chamber, of
SNOM with optically trapped gold particle. A Nd:YAG laser is
used to trap and an Ar

laser is used to illuminate the gold particle.

+
E-mail address: ukita@se.ritsumei.ac.jp
OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 17, No. 1 (2010) 4146
41
of 1060 nm and is formed at an upper cladding layer on a
core in a PLC, as shown in Fig. 2. It has regions of a high-
refractive index of 1.45 with 690 nm width and a low-
refractive index of 1.43 with 370 nm width. We observed the
Ar

laser light at the power of 0.13 mW scattered by the

100 nm gold particle optically trapped by an Nd:YAG laser
at the power of 25 mW, that was scanned over the refractive
index grating at the PLC surface.
Figure 3 shows the SNOM images of the refractive index
grating produced by a gold particle probe with p-polarized
illumination (electric eld is perpendicular to the gratings, as
shown). Figure 3(a) shows the scattered light intensity,
while Fig. 3(b) shows the gray-scale image. We can clearly
recognize the grating pitch of 1060 nm in both images.
Figure 4 shows the scattered light intensity variation vs
the scan distance on the refractive index grating. The
scattered light is averaged for ten data lines. The average
scattered light corresponds to the grating distribution with
the period of 1060 nm. By collecting the scattered far-eld
intensity under a scanning gold particle that induces a local
near eld, we have resolved the refractive index period on
the sample surface.
3. FDTD Method with a Focused Laser Beam
3.1 FDTD analysis model
The FDTD method is a direct solution method for
Maxwells equations and involves space-grid time-domain
techniques employing no potentials. It is based on volumet-
ric sampling of an unknown electric eld E and a magnetic
eld H within and surrounding the structure of interest, and
over a period of time. The sampling in space is, typically,
more than 10 per wavelength. The sampling in time is
selected to ensure numerical stability of the algorithm.
10)
The 2D FDTD method is used for the computation domain
geometry of 4000 nm by 4000 nm, and the cell size is 2 nm
in this section. The closed contour for the calculation of the
far eld is 2000 nm by 2000 nm. The permittivity of the gold
particle is given by the Drude model as
c
r
(o) = 1
o
2
p
o
2
i
2
o
,
=
bulk
v
F
,r,
where o
p
is the plasma frequency (6.79 10
15
rads
1
), is
the damping constant (1.08 10
14
s), v
F
is the Fermi velocity
(1.39 10
16
ms
1
), and r is the particle radius of a gold
particle. Other FDTD analysis conditions are listed in Table 1.
The full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the incident
Gaussian beam is 0.5',NA = 0.5 515,1.3 = 198 nm for
both numerical and experimental analyses in this paper.
3.2 Focused beam input source
A 2D focused Gaussian beam travelling along the y
direction is expressed as
11,12)
E
x
= A

W
0
W(y)
_
exp
_

1
W(y)
2
j
k
2R(y)
_ _
x
2
j
1
2
tan
1
2y
kW
2
0
_ __
exp(jky) exp( jot), (1)
E
y
= 0, (2)
H
z
=
1
joj
oE
x
oy
, (3)
where W
0
is the radius at the beam waist, as shown in
eq. (4), W(y) is the beam radius at y, R(y) is the curvature of
Core width
(6 m)
Grating pitch
(1.06 m)
Fig. 2. (Color online) Photograph of a refractive index grating
fabricated on planar light waveguide circuit. The grating has the
period of 1060 nm and regions of a high-refractive index of 1.45
with 690 nm width and a low-refractive index of 1.43 with 370 nm
width.
(a)
0
5
5
p
-p
o
l
1.06 m
(b)
0
5
1.06 m
p
-p
o
l
5
Fig. 3. (Color online) SNOM images of refractive index grating
obtained using gold particle probe with p-pol illumination. (a)
Scattered light intensity. (b) Gray-scale image.
Scan distance (m)
0 1 2 4
SNOM signal
p-pol
3
Fig. 4. SNOM signal for the refractive index grating in Fig. 2
with the period of 1060 nm. The signal intensity has a linear scale
and the signal modulation is about 0.3.
42 OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 17, No. 1 (2010) R. YOTSUTANI and H. UKITA
the beam at y, k is the wave number, and o is the angular
frequency:
W
0
=
'

1
sin
_ _
2
1
_
. (4)
Here, is the converging angle of the focused beam,
which can be derived from the objective lens NA and the
refractive index of the immersion oil, such as =
sin
1
(1.3,1.516) = 59

.
As all parameters in the FDTD method are real numbers,
the input source focused beam can be given, using time-
domain and space-domain versions of eqs. (1) to (3), as
E
x
(I, J) = A

W
0
W
_
exp
_

1
W
2
__
I
1
2
I
spot
_
x
_
2
_
cos
_
ont
2
'
(J 1 J
spot
)y

'R
I
1
2
I
spot
_ _
x
_ _
2

1
2
tan
1
'
(J 1 J
spot
)y
W
2
0
_ __
, (5)
H
z
(I, J) =
1
joj
E
x
(I, Jy) E
x
(I, (J 1)y)
y
, (6)
where
W = W
0

1
2(J 1 J
spot
)y
2,' W
2
0
_ _
2
_
, (7)
R = (J 1 J
spot
)y 1
,'W
2
0
(J 1 J
spot
)y
_ _
2
_ _
, (8)
where x and y are the lattice space increment, t is the
time increment, n is an integer, I
spot
and J
spot
are the x and y
coordinates of the focused spot, and ' is the wavelength.
3.3 Near eld and far eld of a gold particle
The near eld of the 100-nm-diameter gold particle in
water is shown in Fig. 5. It shows local eld enhancement
and has a symmetric pattern. The near eld is transformed to
the far eld detectable through an objective lens aperture.
The far eld is computed by integrating the equivalent
electric and magnetic currents, J
s
= ^ nn H and M
s
=
^ nn E, at the above-mentioned closed contour surrounding
the gold particle.
13,14)
The computed far-eld intensity is shown in Fig. 6. It has
a symmetric pattern and the two main lobes lie within the
numerical aperture angle 118

(2) of the objective lens.

Another simulation shows that the computed eld intensity
within the numerical aperture upon focused beam illumina-
tion is 2 10
4
times higher than that of plane wave
illumination. The high-eciency transmission of nanoscale
information by the surface plasmon from the near eld to the
far eld is proposed elsewhere.
15)
Length (nm)
L
e
n
g
t
h

(
n
m
)
400 800 1200 1600 2000
400
800
1200
1600
2000
0
0
0
80
160
240
320
400
480
560
640
720
800
Fig. 5. (Color online) Near eld around the 100-nm-diameter
gold particle in water, illuminated by a focused beam of the
wavelength of 515 nm, with an objective lens having the NA of 1.3.
Numerical aperture angle (211 - 329)
Field intensity
x10
-4
(V/m)
2
0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
120
150
180
210
90
240
330
270
300
30
60
0
Fig. 6. (Color online) Far eld computed by integrating equiv-
alent electric and magnetic currents at the closed contour around
the gold particle.
Table 1. FDTD analysis conditions for near and far elds of gold
particle.
Input source Focused Gaussian beam
Wavelength (nm) 515
Objective lens NA 1.3
Refractive index of immersion oil 1.516
Diameter of gold particle (nm) 100
Space domain to be computed (nm) 4000 4000
Space domain to be observed (nm) 2000 2000
Cell size (nm) 2 2
Time step interval (s) 4.0 10
18
Time steps 4000
Conductivity in vacuum o
0
(
1
m
1
) 1.0 10
8
Conductivity in water o (
1
m
1
) 1.0 10
2
Permittivity in vacuum c
0
(Fm
1
) 8.854 10
12
Permittivity in water c (Fm
1
) 1.33
2
c
0
OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 17, No. 1 (2010) R. YOTSUTANI and H. UKITA 43
4. FDTD Analysis for Refractive Index Grating
Figure 7 shows the model of the SNOM signal simulation
for a refractive index grating in water with dierent gold
particle diameters. The grating with the period of 1060 nm
has a region of a high-refractive index of 1.45 (690 nm
width) and that of a low-refractive index of 1.43 (370 nm
width). The computation domain is 7500 nm by 5000 nm and
surrounded by the perfectly matched layer (PML), and the
cell size is 5 nm. The observation domain is 5000 nm by
5000 nm, as shown by the dotted contour line. The input
source is a focused Gaussian beam with a focal plane
positioned at the center of the particle on the grating surface.
FDTD analysis conditions are listed in Table 2.
Figure 8 shows the near eld of the gold particle at the
center of the high-refractivity region, with particle diameter
as a parameter. The patterns are nearly the same shape, but
the eld intensity increases rapidly as the diameter increases.
Figure 9 shows the far-eld intensity transformed from the
near eld shown in Fig. 8. The far-eld pattern has almost
the same structure, two main lobes, but the signal intensity
690 nm 370 nm
1250 nm
X
Y
PLC
Water Gold particle
PML: Perfectly matched layer
5
0
0
0

n
m
7500 nm
5000 nm
Focused laser beam
PML
PLC: Planar lightwave circuit
Observation domain
Fig. 7. SNOM signal simulation model for refractive index
grating with dierent gold particle diameters in water.
Table 2. FDTD analysis conditions for the observation of
refractive index grating with gold particle.
Input source Focused Gaussian beam
Wavelength (nm) 515
Objective lens NA 1.3
Refractive index of medium n
1
1.33
Refractive index of sample n
2
1.45 (high), 1.43 (low)
Diameter of gold particle (nm) 50, 100, 200, 300
Space domain to be computed (nm) 7500 5000
Cell size (nm) 5 5
Time step interval (s) 1.17 10
17
Time steps 4000
Conductivity in vacuum o
0
(
1
m
1
) 1.0 10
8
Conductivity in water (
1
m
1
) 1.0 10
2
Conductivity in SiO
2
(
1
m
1
) 1.0 10
17
Permittivity in vacuum c
0
(Fm
1
) 8.854 10
12
Permittivity in water (Fm
1
) 1.33
2
c
0
High permittivity in SiO
2
(Fm
1
) 1.45
2
c
0
Low permittivity in SiO
2
(Fm
1
) 1.43
2
c
0
(a) (b) (c) (d)
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 (nm) 0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
(nm)
0
0
40
80
120
160
200
240
280
320
360
400
Fig. 8. (Color online) Near elds of the gold particle located at the center of the high-refractivity part with particle
diameter as a parameter: (a) 50, (b) 100, (c) 200, and (d) 300 nm.
Numerical aperture angle
Field intensity
x10
-2
(V/m)
2
0
0.8
1.6
100
200
300
120
150
180
210
90
240
330
270
300
30
60
0
Fig. 9. Far-eld intensities from the near elds shown in Fig. 8.
44 OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 17, No. 1 (2010) R. YOTSUTANI and H. UKITA
integrated within the objective lens numerical aperture
increases rapidly as the diameter increases.
The SNOM signal of the refractive grating is obtained
from the above integrated far-eld intensity when the gold
particle moves on the surface. Figure 10 shows the SNOM
signal with the gold particle at various locations along the
grating. It is seen from the gure that the computed SNOM
signal varies depending on the refractivity and the location
on the sample surface.
The signal modulation M = (I
high
I
low
),(I
high
I
low
) is
computed and shown in Fig. 11. The modulation increases
as the gold particle diameter decreases, leading to the curve
in Fig. 12. This gure indicates that modulation increases
as the gold particle diameter decreases, for example, from
0.05 at 300 nm to 0.12 at 200 nm to 0.34 at 100 nm, and
reaches 0.82 at 50 nm diameter.
The above results show that the SNOM signal behavior
obtained by the FDTD analysis, shown in Fig. 11, seem
similar to those obtained in the experiment, shown in Fig. 4.
By integrating the FDTD far-eld intensity or by collecting
the experimental scattered light under a scanning gold
particle, we obtained a refractive index variation with the
period of 1060 nm on the sample surface. We conrmed that
SNOM is eective for observing the sample surface beyond
the diraction limit of optical microscopy.
5. Conclusions
SNOM signals were obtained by integrating the far-eld
intensity within the numerical aperture of the objective lens.
The far eld was transformed from the near eld computed
using a 2D FDTD method for an optically trapped gold
particle on the surface of a refractive index grating in water.
We observed the signal, in the same period, of a refractive
index grating fabricated by UV exposure through a phase
mask on a planar light waveguide circuit.
Signal modulations were also computed for dierent
gold particle diameters using the signals from high- and
low-refractivity states with the period of 1060 nm on the
sample. We observed that the modulation increases as the
gold particle diameter decreases and reaches 0.82 at 50 nm
diameter.
From the results above, we conrmed that an optically
trapped gold particle is eective in observing the physical
property of a sample surface beyond the diraction limit of
optical microscopy.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Mr. K. Matsushima for
preparing the FDTD program.
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Refractive index
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
50
100
200
Gold particle
diameter (nm)
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Scan length (nm)
S
N
O
M

s
i
g
n
a
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(
a
r
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u
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i
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)

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Gold particle scan
0 690 1060 nm
Fig. 10. (Color online) SNOM signal along the grating with gold
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high
I
low
),(I
high
I
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) with
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0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
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0.8
0.9
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M
o
d
u
l
a
t
i
o
n
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diameter of the gold particle.
OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 17, No. 1 (2010) R. YOTSUTANI and H. UKITA 45
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46 OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 17, No. 1 (2010) R. YOTSUTANI and H. UKITA