Metasurface engineering of transient photothermal responses for vibrational imaging at living interfaces
Abstract
Chemical transformations at biological interfaces are central to cellular function, yet the weak vibrational signals associated with subtle molecular changes limit their spatially resolved observation. Here, we present metasurface-driven mid-infrared photothermal imaging (MetaMIP), which uses resonantly engineered metasurfaces to amplify molecular temperature modulation while retaining rapid thermal recovery. Visible-light detection converts this response into submicrometre maps of individual nanoparticles and biological cells. In living cells, MetaMIP resolves spatially distinct chemical changes during enzymatic lipid conversion across the cell membrane. These results demonstrate the potential of engineered photothermal interfaces for mapping chemical composition and tracking its evolution during reactions.
Related
- Dual-Gradient Plasmonic qBIC Metasurface for Time-Resolved In Situ Optimization of Molecular Vibrational Sensing in Water
- Sublattice-selective control of spin reversal in metasurface-coupled Kagome interfaces
- Engineering Defect-Phonon Interactions Through Heterophase-Interfaces in Silicon Carbide Membranes
- Strain engineering of transient exciton diffusion in WSe2 monolayers at cryogenic temperatures
- Agentic Porting, Construction and Initial Verification and Validation of Libraries within the Open Source Unified TRAnsient Multi-Phase Advanced Reactor simulation Kit (Outram Park) Part I: A Software Engineering Log for Thermal Hydraulics
BibTeX
@misc{hu2026metasurface,
title = {{Metasurface engineering of transient photothermal responses for vibrational imaging at living interfaces}},
author = {Zhibin Hu and Tianrun Zhang and Jiayu Ding and Pengcheng Fu and Ziyang Huang and Bo Chen and Bangjie Song and Minglu Li and Xinyu Deng and Quan D. Zhou and Delong Zhang and Siying Peng},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.30610},
eprint = {2610.30610},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.30610},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Metasurface engineering of transient photothermal responses for vibrational imaging at living interfaces
AU - Zhibin Hu
AU - Tianrun Zhang
AU - Jiayu Ding
AU - Pengcheng Fu
AU - Ziyang Huang
AU - Bo Chen
AU - Bangjie Song
AU - Minglu Li
AU - Xinyu Deng
AU - Quan D. Zhou
AU - Delong Zhang
AU - Siying Peng
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.30610
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.30610
AB - Chemical transformations at biological interfaces are central to cellular function, yet the weak vibrational signals associated with subtle molecular changes limit their spatially resolved observation. Here, we present metasurface-driven mid-infrared photothermal imaging (MetaMIP), which uses resonantly engineered metasurfaces to amplify molecular temperature modulation while retaining rapid thermal recovery. Visible-light detection converts this response into submicrometre maps of individual nanoparticles and biological cells. In living cells, MetaMIP resolves spatially distinct chemical changes during enzymatic lipid conversion across the cell membrane. These results demonstrate the potential of engineered photothermal interfaces for mapping chemical composition and tracking its evolution during reactions.
ER -