Super-resolution imaging: when biophysics meets nanophotonics

Probing light–matter interaction at the nanometer scale is one of the most fascinating topics of modern optics. Its importance is underlined by the large span of fields in which such accurate knowledge of light–matter interaction is needed, namely nanophotonics, quantum electrodynamics, atomic physics, biosensing, quantum computing and many more. Increasing innovations in the field of microscopy in the last decade have pushed the ability of observing such phenomena across multiple length scales, from micrometers to nanometers. In bioimaging, the advent of super-resolution single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) has opened a completely new perspective for the study and understanding of molecular mechanisms, with unprecedented resolution, which take place inside the cell. Since then, the field of SMLM has been continuously improving, shifting from an initial drive for pushing technological limitations to the acquisition of new knowledge. Interestingly, such developments have become also of great interest for the study of light–matter interaction in nanostructured materials, either dielectric, metallic, or hybrid metallic-dielectric. The purpose of this review is to summarize the recent advances in the field of nanophotonics that have leveraged SMLM, and conversely to show how some concepts commonly used in nanophotonics can benefit the development of new microscopy techniques for biophysics. To this aim, we will first introduce the basic concepts of SMLM and the observables that can be measured. Then, we will link them with their corresponding physical quantities of interest in biophysics and nanophotonics and we will describe state-of-the-art experiments that apply SMLM to nanophotonics. The problem of localization artifacts due to the interaction of the fluorescent emitter with a resonant medium and possible solutions will be also discussed. Then, we will show how the interaction of fluorescent emitters with plasmonic structures can be successfully employed in biology for cell profiling and membrane organization studies. We present an outlook on emerging research directions enabled by the synergy of localization microscopy and nanophotonics.

Rogue waves in the three-level defocusing coupled Maxwell–Bloch equations

The coupled Maxwell–Bloch (CMB) system is a fundamental model describing the propagation of ultrashort laser pulses in a resonant medium with coherent three-level atomic transitions. In this paper, we consider an integrable generalization of the CMB equations with the defocusing case. The CMB hierarchy is derived with the aid of a 3 × 3 matrix eigenvalue problem and the Lenard recursion equation, from which the defocusing CMB model is proposed as a special reduction of the general CMB equations. The n -fold Darboux transformation as well as the multiparametric n th-order rogue wave solution of the defocusing CMB equations are put forward in terms of Schur polynomials. As an application, the explicit rogue wave solutions from first to second order are presented. Apart from the traditional dark rogue wave, bright rogue wave and four-petalled rogue wave, some novel rogue wave structures such as the dark four-peaked rogue wave and the double-ridged rogue wave are found. Moreover, the second-order rogue wave triplets which contain a fixed number of these rogue waves are shown.

Population difference gratings created on vibrational transitions by nonoverlapping subcycle THz pulses

We study theoretically a possibility of creation and ultrafast control (erasing, spatial frequency multiplication) of population density gratings in a multi-level resonant medium having a resonance transition frequency in the THz range. These gratings are produced by subcycle THz pulses coherently interacting with a nonlinear medium, without any need for pulses to overlap, thereby utilizing an indirect pulse interaction via an induced coherent polarization grating. High values of dipole moments of the transitions in the THz range facilitate low field strength of the needed THz excitation. Our results clearly show this possibility in multi-level resonant media. Our theoretical approach is based on an approximate analytical solution of time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE) using perturbation theory. Remarkably, as we show here, quasi-unipolar subcycle pulses allow more efficient excitation of higher quantum levels, leading to gratings with a stronger modulation depth. Numerical simulations, performed for THz resonances of the $$H_20$$ H 2 0 molecule using Bloch equations for density matrix elements, are in agreement with analytical results in the perturbative regime. In the strong-field non-perturbative regime, the spatial shape of the gratings becomes non-harmonic. A possibility of THz radiation control using such gratings is discussed. The predicted phenomena open novel avenues in THz spectroscopy of molecules with unipolar and quasi-unipolar THz light bursts and allow for better control of ultra-short THz pulses.

Получение изолированных аттосекундных импульсов с большой электрической площадью в плотной резонансной среде

Obtaining unipolar half-cycle optical pulses of femto- and attosecond duration with a large electrical area is an urgent but difficult task. The reason for the emerging difficulties lies in the existence of the rule of conservation of the electrical area of ​​the pulse, which does not allow converting a bipolar pulse into a unipolar one. In this work, it is shown that in a resonant medium a low-cycle pulse can be converted into two unipolar pulses separated in time by a distance that is an order of magnitude or more longer than the duration of the initial pulse. This allows in a number of problems to consider such pulses separately as unipolar. The estimation of the electric area value relative to its "atomic scale" is carried out.

Генерация предельно коротких импульсов терагерцового излучения на основе сверхизлучения трехуровневой резонансной среды

The possibility of generating extremely short pulses of terahertz (THz) radiation due to superradiance - collective spontaneous emission of stopped polarization of a thin layer of a three-level resonant medium excited by a pair of attosecond (or femtosecond) pulses is studied theoretically. The source of a terahertz pulse is a pulse of stopped nonlinear polarization of the medium, which occurs in the interval between its excitation and de-excitation. The case of a three-level medium with equidistant energy levels (as in a quantum harmonic oscillator), the transition frequency of which lies in the THz range, is considered. The influence of the populations of the excited levels of the medium on the shape of the terahertz superradiance pulse is discussed.