Confocal white light reflection imaging for characterization of metal nanostructures

A simple far-field confocal white light reflection imaging system was proposed using a xenon (Xe) lamp as the incident light source. The best spatial resolution was determined to be about 410 nm. Localized surface plasmons (LSPs) of isolated single and dimer gold nanospheres were studied and the resonance energy difference between their LSPs was extracted. Polarization dependent reflection imaging and contrast spectrum of single silver nanowires were also investigated, which correlate closely with the polarization dependent excitation of their LSP.