Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-06-18

Multi-focal scanning plasmonic nanoscope for super resolution imaging of living cells

Objective

"This project aims to design the first ever prototype of a plasmonic microscope for in vivo bio imaging. The principle behind the prototype consists in deep sub-wavelength focusing and raster scanning of multiple points to achieve imaging. On the one hand, using surface plasmons excitation for microscopy instead of light offers the advantage of ultra short plasmonic wavelengths (down to 100 nm) for visible light frequencies, enabling a plasmonic diffraction limit of 50 nm which sets the resolution of the microscopy. On the other hand, in this ultra short wavelength regime surface plasmons suffer losses, limiting the propagation length of plasmon waves. Losses limit the image size (field of view) to no more than 10 by 10 resolution points, a size which is completely insufficient for biological samples. The main scientific challenge of this proposal is to surpass the plasmonic losses which constitute a limitation for microscopy and most plasmonic applications. While previous attempts were based on reducing the losses (succeeded up by a factor of two), we propose a scheme that is not sensitive to these losses. The scheme consists in a ""network"" of periodic plasmonic repeaters that regenerate the lossy signals, similarly to the standard method used for distributing cellular phones and TV/radio signals over long distances. In particular, we will use a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) to create and scan multiple plasmonic foci in parallel. The image is acquired via raster scanning of all the plasmonic foci in parallel, yielding an image size limited only by the extension of the network, namely the number of pixels in the SLM. Moreover, this scheme also reduces the scanning time by up to two orders of magnitudes, making it suitable for in-vivo measurements.

In conclusion, we propose a technological advancement for microscopy based on a novel scheme that can harvest the short plasmonic wavelengths for microscopy without compromising any other relevant parameters."

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)

Coordinator

TECHNION - ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
EU contribution
€ 184 558,80
Address
SENATE BUILDING TECHNION CITY
32000 Haifa
Israel

See on map

Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0