Quantitative Determination of In-plane Optical Anisotropy by Surface Plasmon Resonance Holographic Microscopy

Quantitative Determination of In-plane Optical Anisotropy by Surface Plasmon Resonance Holographic Microscopy | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Quantitative Determination of In-plane Optical Anisotropy by Surface Plasmon Resonance Holographic Microscopy Jianlin Zhao, Jiwei Zhang, Wenrui Li, Jiahao Li, Xiaoqing Chen, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6975773/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 06 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Light: Science & Applications → Version 1 posted 13 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Quantitative determination of in-plane optical anisotropy is essential in finding or designing anisotropic low-dimensional materials and investigating their physical properties. Current determination methods are mostly qualitative or using empirical equations for quantitative calculation. A common weakness of these methods is utilizing light-mater interactions between far-field light and material samples which relies on long interaction distance. However, the thin thickness of low-dimensional material especially atomic-layer sample, induces an exceeding short light-mater interaction distance and results in low signal-to-noise ratio as well as inaccurate measurement result. In this paper, we propose a novel determination method for in-plane optical anisotropy called azimuthal scanning excitation surface plasmon resonance holographic microscopy. This method utilizes near-field light-mater interactions between material samples and surface plasmon waves oscillating along various in-plane directions. The sample complex refractive indices along all of the in-plane directions can be quantitatively retrieved and thus the magnitude of in-plane optical anisotropy including birefringence and dichroism is determined. This method detects the reflection phase shift in surface plasmon resonance regardless of the sample thickness and thus is applicable to ultrathin samples down to atomic-layer. As a demonstration example, monolayer, bilayer and multilayer ReS2 samples have been used to verify the validity of the proposed method, and we find that the magnitude of in-plane optical anisotropy increases with the decrease of sample thickness. This work provides a precise determination method for in-plane optical anisotropy of thin film samples with various thickness and gives a guidance in finding new anisotropic low-dimensional materials and engineering new polarized nanodevices. Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical techniques/Imaging and sensing Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical techniques/Microscopy/Interference microscopy Full Text Additional Declarations There is no conflict of interest Supplementary Files manuscriptsi.pdf SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 06 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Light: Science & Applications → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: revise 07 Nov, 2025 Review # 4 received at journal 27 Oct, 2025 Reviewer # 4 agreed at journal 16 Oct, 2025 Review # 1 received at journal 24 Aug, 2025 Review # 3 received at journal 23 Aug, 2025 Reviewer # 3 agreed at journal 14 Aug, 2025 Review # 2 received at journal 30 Jul, 2025 Reviewer # 2 agreed at journal 18 Jul, 2025 Reviewer # 1 agreed at journal 17 Jul, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 17 Jul, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 03 Jul, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 25 Jun, 2025 First submitted to journal 25 Jun, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6975773","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":486721890,"identity":"202ca1a0-69a5-492b-9537-ff7eee554ea8","order_by":0,"name":"Jianlin 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