Defocused differential interference contrast microscopy imaging of single plasmonic anisotropic nanoparticles

Abstract

We present the defocused differential interference contrast (DIC) imaging of gold nanorods. We found that the scattered light and the defocus aberration play an important role in the formation of orientation-dependent DIC image patterns of a gold nanorod. Interestingly, the scattered light from a gold nanorod aligned closer to the polarization directions enables us to directly resolve its spatial orientation under a defocused DIC microscope.