Laserbased infrared microscope with high spectral and spatial resolution

为了实现纳米光子学的新研究，特别是我们在中红外分子光谱学领域的努力，我们需要一个具有高光谱和空间分辨率的基于激光的红外显微镜系统。该显微镜将与我们小组开发的新型表面增强传感器几何形状（所谓的超表面）相结合，以揭示复杂化学和生物系统的空间分辨分子组成。我们的工作重点之一将是研究细菌群及其对免疫系统和相关药物的反应。另一个应用是电介质和声子材料组成的纳米天线及其与二维激子系统（如石墨烯或六方氮化硼）的相互作用的光谱研究。通过表面增强、中红外强激光照明和高探测器像素分辨率的独特协同作用，这些实验可以以前所未有的灵敏度进行，并将其推向单个纳米天线的极限。因此，我们的方法在纳米物理和光/物质相互作用领域开辟了一个新的研究方向。首选激光系统的特点是，特别是，其激光源的亮度在整个分子指纹光谱范围内，并通过其成像微辐射热计探测器的非常高的空间分辨率。

To enable new research in nanophotonics and specifically for our endeavors in the area of mid-infrared molecular spectroscopy, we require a laser-based infrared microscopy system with high spectral and spatial resolution. The microscope will be leveraged in combination with novel surface-enhanced sensor geometries (so called metasurfaces) developed in our group to reveal the spatially resolved molecular composition of complex chemical and biological systems. One focus of our work will be on investigating ensembles of bacteria and their response to the immune system and relevant pharmaceuticals. Another application is the spectroscopic investigation of nanoantennas composed of dielectric and phononic materials and their interactions with two-dimensional excitonic systems such as graphene or hexagonal boron nitride. Through the unique synergy of surface-enhancement, intense laser-based illumination in the mid-infrared and high detector pixel resolution, these experiments can be carried out with unprecedented sensitivity and pushed to the ultimate limit of a single nanoantenna. Therefore, our approach opens up a new research direction in the field of nanophysics and light/matter interaction. The preferred laser system is characterized, in particular, by the brilliance of its laser source over the entire molecular fingerprinting spectral range and by the very high spatial resolution of its imaging microbolometer detector.