Boston Chapter of the IEEE Photonics Society

Wed
Apr 13, 2005
8:15 PM
 

MIT Lincoln Laboratory
 

Micro-fabricated Probes for Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy and Visible-Wavelength Photonic Crystal Slabs

Prof. Ken Crozier, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Abstract:  The optical microscope is a powerful and ubiquitous observation and analysis tool, with applications ranging from basic science, to manufacturing, and to medicine.  But traditional optical microscopes fail for nanometer-scale structures, however, because the diffraction limit prevents us from resolving dimensions smaller than half a wavelength.  In this work we demonstrate MEMS-fabricated lenses and optical antennas for scanning probe microscopes that overcome the diffraction limit.  In a separate investigation, we demonstrate photonic crystal slabs at visible wavelengths.

Biography:  Ken Crozier is an assistant professor of Electrical Engineering in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard.  He carried out his PhD (2003) under Professors Calvin Quate and Gordon Kino at Stanford University.  His current research focuses on experimental studies on nanophotonics. In particular, he is exploring near-field optical imaging techniques for spectroscopy with a spatial resolution significantly better than the classical diffraction limit. He is also interested in demonstrating new optical components based on photonic crystals.