The objective of this research is to develop a new type of microscope and interferometer that uses the hydrogen Lyman-alpha (HLA) line at 121.6nm as the source wavelength. This wavelength is convenient, because it is short enough to provide transverse resolution improvement of 5X above visible light microscopes and, although it is in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, it has an atmospheric transmission window of up to several centimeters in dry air. Therefore, samples do not need to be in vacuum. Subnanometer vertical resolution is expected from the interferometer configuration. The intellectual merit is a first demonstration of imaging and interferometry at the HLA wavelength for a variety of objects, like graphene, silicon nanophotonic circuits and metamaterial structures. Potential of this technology will be investigated with advanced optical designs, and an attempt will be made to measure auto-fluorescence of biological structures, like electrospun fibrinogen fibers. The broader impacts of this technology are numerous, where the instrument transforms the range of practical optical microscopy into the VUV. Many researchers are now studying nano-devices and structures, and evolution of this instrument will enable characterization on this scale, which is between optical microscopy and electron microscopes or atomic-force microscopes. As the source technology improves, this system could enable sub-nanometer transverse resolution by application of stimulated emission-depletion ideas for fluorophore-tagged proteins in biological membrane samples. With respect to commercial interests, this technology provides a potentially useful tool for inspection of wafers and masks in the semiconductor industry.
