Super-resolution Imaging of Plasmonic Near-Fields: OvercomingEmitter Mislocalizations

Plasmonic nano-objects have shown great potential in enhancing applications likebiological/chemical sensing, light harvesting and energy transfer, and optical/quantumcomputing. Therefore, an extensive effort has been vested in optimizing plasmonic systemsand exploiting theirfield enhancement properties. Super-resolution imaging with quantum dots(QDs) is a promising method to probe plasmonic near-fields but is hindered by the distortion ofthe QD radiation pattern. Here, we investigate the interaction between QDs and"L-shaped"goldnanoantennas and demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally that this strong interactioncan induce polarization-dependent modifications to the apparent QD emission intensity,polarization, and localization. Based on FDTD simulations and polarization-modulated single-molecule microscopy, we show that the displacement of the emitter's localization is due to theposition-dependent interference between the emitter and the induced dipole, and can be up to100 nm. Our results help pave a pathway for higher precision plasmonic near-field mapping andits underlying applications