Fig. 1. Surface wave illuminated optical microscope^[20]. (a) Experimental setup of the surface-sensitive photonic microscopy using azimuthal rotation illumination; (b) the incident angle (the radial angle θ and the azimuth angle φ) controlled by the double galvanometer scanning system; (c) conventional SPRM imaging. (d) SPRM imaging using azimuthal rotation illumination; (e) the BSWs propagating on the dielectric multilayer used as the near-field illumination source

Fig. 2. The sample is a dielectric nanowire placed on a dielectric micron wire^[20]. (a) Conventional microscopic image; (b) the image captured by the BSWM

Fig. 3. An optical element based on a dielectric multilayer film used as a substrate for the sample to be imaged, which can be used to realize dark field microscopic imaging and total internal reflection imaging by using a conventional bright field optical microscope^[9]. (a) The experimental configuration of conventional total internal reflection illumination and dark field illumination microscopy; (b) a single dielectric multilayer film achieves total internal reflection illumination and dark field illumination, which can be used as the substrate of conventional transmission optical microscopy to realize both dark field and total internal reflection imaging; (c) bright field image, total internal reflection illumination image, and darkfield illumination image of the same transparent cells in water, the length of the white line in the lower right corner represents 10 μm

Fig. 4. Multiple-order optical differential component based on dielectric multilayer thin film, which can be used to realize multiple-order spatial differentiation with one element, it is used as a substrate of a conventional optical microscope to achieve edge enhanced imaging^[10]. (a) The light wave function is differentiated through the multilayer film; (b) the experimental setup and the photo of the multilayer film; (c1)‒(c4) 1-4 order optical differential calculation used to achieve the edge enhancement imaging of amplitude objects; (d1)‒(d4) the edge enhancement imaging of phase objects

Fig. 5. Surface wave optical microscopy used to in-situ real-time measure the hygroscopic growth of individual atmospheric ultrafine particles^[41]. (a) Diagram of experimental setup; (b)(c) steady-state measurement and transient measurement of the hygroscopic growth process of a single aerosol nanoparticle

Fig. 6. A high-sensitivity, label-free microscopic imaging system constructed based on the dielectric multilayer thin film enabled dark field illumination element, which is used for in-situ monitoring of the hygroscopic growth of single atmospheric ultrafine particles^[52]. (a)(b) Diagram of optical experimental setup and schematic diagram of environmental humidity control system; (c) steady-state measurement curve of hygroscopic growth of sodium chloride nanoparticles; (d) steady-state measurement curve of hygroscopic growth of sodium chloride-glucose mixed nanoparticles