Label-Free Super-Resolution Microscopy

Vasily N. Astratov has been professor of Physics and Optical Science at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte since 2002. In 1986, he received his Ph.D. degree from the A.F. Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute in Russia. Since joining UNC-Charlotte in 2002, his research has been devoted to a new field of study which he has named "microspherical photonics" to describe the applications of dielectric microspheres in super-resolution microscopy, resonant light forces, photonic nanojets, and photonic molecules. In his lab, he proposed and developed the methods of super-resolution imaging based on using high-index dielectric microspheres immersed in liquids or in elastomeric slabs. His methods are widely used by many groups worldwide for imaging subcellular structures, viruses, and nanoplasmonic structures. He also observed giant light forces exerted on microspheres under resonant conditions with their whispering gallery modes. This observation builds upon earlier pioneering work of Arthur Ashkin and Joseph M. Dziedzic on optical forces exerted on microdroplets. Previously, in the mid-1990s he pioneered studies of synthetic opals as novel three-dimensional photonic crystals for visible light. He has authored and co-authored about 180 research publications and 15 patents which have been cited more than 6000 times.