Plasmon tomography

1. A method comprising:

producing plasmon energy by exciting a plasmon resonance at at least one excitation position on a first surface of a layer of a first material;

detecting the plasmon energy at at least one measurement position on the first surface after the plasmon energy has propagated from the at least one excitation position to the at least one measurement position;

determining an attenuation of plasmon energy along a plurality of different paths on the first surface and between the at least one excitation position and the at least one measurement position; and

creating an image of the first surface based on the determined attenuation of plasmon energy along the plurality of different paths.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining relative distances between the first surface and a second surface; and

creating the image of the first surface based on the determined relative distances.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein creating the image further includes:

creating an image of the first surface based on data corresponding to a profile of the second surface.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

altering at least one of the first and second surfaces after determining relative distances between the first and second surfaces.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining absolute distances between the first surface and a second surface; and

creating the image of the first surface based on the determined absolute distances.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein creating the image further includes:

deconvolving data corresponding to the determined attenuation of plasmon energy along the plurality of different paths.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein creating an image of the first surface includes:

creating an image of a relative thickness of a surface layer on the first surface.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

producing plasmon energy by exciting a plasmon resonance at at least one excitation position on a second surface of a second material, the second surface facing the first surface;

detecting the plasmon energy at at least one measurement position on the second surface after the plasmon energy has propagated from the at least one excitation position on the second surface to the at least one measurement position on the second surface;

determining an attenuation of plasmon energy along a plurality of different paths on the second surface and between the at least one excitation position on the second surface and the at least one measurement position on the second surface; and

determining relative distances between the first and second surfaces based on the image of the first surface and the determined attenuation of plasmon energy along the plurality of different paths on the second surface.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

altering the first surface after creating the image.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

altering the first surface based on the created image.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein altering the first surface includes:

depositing a material on the first surface.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein altering the first surface includes:

causing a chemical or biological reaction proximate to the surface.

13. A method comprising:

producing plasmon energy by exciting a plasmon resonance at at least one excitation position on a first surface of a first material facing a second surface of a second material;

detecting the plasmon energy at at least one measurement position on the first surface after the plasmon energy has propagated from the at least one excitation position to the at least one measurement position;

determining an attenuation of plasmon energy along a plurality of different paths on the first surface and between the at least one excitation position and the at least one measurement position; and

creating an image of the second surface based on the determined attenuation of plasmon energy along the plurality of different paths.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein creating the image further includes:

deconvolving data corresponding to the determined attenuation of plasmon energy along the plurality of different paths.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein creating an image of the second surface further includes:

determining relative distances between the first and second surfaces at a plurality of points on at least one of the surfaces.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

altering the relative position of the second surface relative to the first surface based on the created image.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

moving an object relative to the first and second surfaces based on the created image.

18. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

causing a chemical or biological reaction proximate to at least one of the first and second surfaces based on the created image.

19. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

altering at least one of the first and second surfaces based on the created image.

20. An apparatus comprising:

a layer of a material having a spatially variable thickness and supportive of plasmon energy;

an optical energy source alignable to provide electromagnetic radiation at a frequency operative to excite a plasmon resonance at at least one excitation position on the layer;

a detector alignable to detect the plasmon resonance at at least one measurement position on the layer after the plasmon resonance has propagated from the at least one excitation position to the at least one measurement position; and

a processor responsive to a signal produced by the detector and corresponding to the detected plasmon resonance to produce an image of the relative thickness of the layer.