Fig. 2: The point-spread-function and field-of-view of three types of PSMs.

a–c Experimental images of single polystyrene nanoparticles (diameter of 150 nm, n = 1.51) obtained via PSM, Azimuthally-Rotation-Illumination-PSM, and Chip-PSM. Scale bar, 3.3 μm. d–f Experimental images of silver nanowires obtained via PSM, Azimuthally-Rotation-Illumination-PSM, and Chip-PSM. Scale bar, 33 μm. An air objective (40×, NA = 0.6) is used for capturing images on (a–f). The white arrowhead in Fig. 2a and d represents the propagation direction of the excited surface plasmons. g–h Chip-PSM images of silver nanowires. Air objectives of 10× (NA = 0.3) and 4× (NA = 0.2) were used for image on (g) and (h) respectively. The zone marked with a white box on (g–h) represents the same imaging areas as shown in Fig. 2d–f. The scale bars represent 132 μm in Fig. 2g and 330 μm in Fig. 2h.