Plasmon tomography
AssigneeSearete LLC, a limited liability corporation
InventorRoderick Hyde
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Plasmon energy is produced by exciting a plasmon resonance at least one excitation position on a first surface of a first material, and the plasmon energy is detected at at least one measurement position on the first surface after the plasmon energy has propagated from the at least one excitation position to the at least one measurement position. An attenuation of plasmon energy is determined along a plurality of paths between the at least one excitation position and the at least one measurement position, and relative distances between the first surface and a second surface of a second material are determined at a plurality of points on at least one of the surfaces based on the determined attenuation of plasmon energy along the plurality of paths.
Claims57
A method comprising:
- producing plasmon energy by exciting a plasmon resonance at least one excitation position on a first surface of a first material;
- detecting the plasmon energy at least one measurement position on the first surface after the plasmon energy has propagated from the at least one excitation position to the at least one measurement position;
- determining an attenuation of plasmon energy along a plurality of paths between the at least one excitation position and the at least one measurement position;
- and
- determining relative distances between the first surface and a second surface of a second material at a plurality of points on at least one of the surfaces based on the determined attenuation of plasmon energy along the plurality of paths.
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An apparatus comprising:
- positioning structures configured to align a first surface of a first material with a second surface of a second material;
- an optical energy source, wherein the source is alignable to provide electromagnetic radiation at a frequency responsive to excite a plasmon resonance at at least one excitation position on a first surface of the first material;
- a detector configured to produce a signal corresponding to excited plasmon energy at least one measurement position on the first surface spatially separated from the at least one excitation position;
- and
- a processor responsive to the signal corresponding to excited plasmon energy at least one measurement position and configured to determine at least one separation distance between the first material and the second material.
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An article comprising a machine-accessible medium that stores executable instructions, the instructions causing electrical circuitry to:
- acquire data about an attenuation of plasmon energy along a plurality of paths between the at least one plasmon excitation position on a first surface of a first material facing a second surface of a second material and the at least one measurement position on the first surface;
- and
- determine relative distances between the first surface and a second surface of a second material at a plurality of points on at least one of the surfaces based on the determined attenuation of plasmon energy along the plurality of paths.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.