Visualizable Detection of Nanoscale Perturbations

Using light to non-destructively detect nanoscale perturbations is vital to many fields including material characterization, human disease diagnosis, and semiconductor electronics. In this work, we introduce the concepts of electromagnetic canyons and non-resonance amplification and apply them on a conventional diffraction-limited optical microscope to directly view individual perturbations (25-nm radius = wavelength/31) in a nanoscale volume. Considering the extensive impact of microscopy on scientific discovery and technology development, our noninvasive imaging-based method with deep subwavelength footprint will have far-reaching consequences that will affect our everyday lives.