In situ printing of liquid superlenses for subdiffraction-limited color imaging of nanobiostructures in nature

Abstract

The nanostructures and patterns that exist in nature have inspired researchers to develop revolutionary components for use in modern technologies and our daily lives. The nanoscale imaging of biological samples with sophisticated analytical tools, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), has afforded a precise understanding of structures and has helped reveal the mechanisms contributing to the behaviors of the samples but has done so with the loss of photonic properties. Here, we present a new method for printing biocompatible “superlenses” directly on biological objects to observe subdiffraction-limited features under an optical microscope in color. We demonstrate the nanoscale imaging of butterfly wing scales with a super-resolution and larger field-of-view (FOV) than those of previous dielectric microsphere techniques. Our approach creates a fast and flexible path for the direct color observation of nanoscale biological features in the visible range and enables potential optical measurements at the subdiffraction-limited scale.