New super optical lens improves microscope's five-fold resolution

   Scientists in China and the United Kingdom have used a common titanium dioxide nanoparticle to prepare a solid hemispherical super-optical lens that can increase the resolution of an optical microscope by 4 to 5 times, significantly breaking the limit resolution of conventional optical microscopes.

   The study was completed by Wang Zengbo from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Bangor University in the United Kingdom and Wu Limin from the Materials Department of Fudan University in China.

   According to the related introduction, the titanium dioxide nanoparticles are first placed in a fluid medium, then squeezed out with a syringe, directly dropped onto the observation sample to form a hemispherical object, and the fluid evaporates to form a solid hemispherical super optical lens. The size is several tens of micrometers, which is thinner than the human hair. Under ordinary white light illumination, conventional optical microscopes cannot see objects smaller than 200 nanometers, and this super-optical lens composed of high-refractive-index nanoparticles can increase the resolution of optical microscopes to a record 45 nanometers.

  Simply put, this super lens can be used to transform a common optical microscope into a nano-scale optical microscope. For example, the finest slot on a Blu-ray disc is only 100 nanometers, which is invisible using a normal microscope, but can be directly observed using this super lens. Researchers hope that this outcome can be applied to biomedical applications in the future, such as real-time observation of subcellular structures and viruses.

   According to reports, the titanium dioxide nanoparticles used in this technology are widely used in sunscreen cosmetics and white paints, which are common materials, low in cost, and relatively simple in preparation process. It is expected that the technology will be commercialized in the next few years.