Super-resolution without evanescent waves
Super-resolution without evanescent waves
The past decade has seen numerous efforts to achieve imaging resolution beyond that of the Abbe-Rayleigh diffraction limit. The main direction of research aiming to break this limit seeks to exploit the evanescent components containing fine detail of the electromagnetic field distribution at the immediate proximity of the object. Here, we propose a solution that removes the need for evanescent fields. The object being imaged or stimulated with subwavelength accuracy does not need to be in the immediate proximity of the superlens or field concentrator: an optical mask can be designed that creates constructive interference of waves known as superoscillation, leading to a subwavelength focus of prescribed size and shape in a field of view beyond the evanescent fields, when illuminated by a monochromatic wave. Moreover, we demonstrate that such a mask may be used not only as a focusing device but also as a super-resolution imaging device.
1249-1254
Huang, Fu Min
1e6fc160-8f6c-48f9-ad58-b993047b5a30
Zheludev, Nikolay I.
32fb6af7-97e4-4d11-bca6-805745e40cc6
2009
Huang, Fu Min
1e6fc160-8f6c-48f9-ad58-b993047b5a30
Zheludev, Nikolay I.
32fb6af7-97e4-4d11-bca6-805745e40cc6
Huang, Fu Min and Zheludev, Nikolay I.
(2009)
Super-resolution without evanescent waves.
Nano Letters, 9 (3), .
(doi:10.1021/nl9002014).
Abstract
The past decade has seen numerous efforts to achieve imaging resolution beyond that of the Abbe-Rayleigh diffraction limit. The main direction of research aiming to break this limit seeks to exploit the evanescent components containing fine detail of the electromagnetic field distribution at the immediate proximity of the object. Here, we propose a solution that removes the need for evanescent fields. The object being imaged or stimulated with subwavelength accuracy does not need to be in the immediate proximity of the superlens or field concentrator: an optical mask can be designed that creates constructive interference of waves known as superoscillation, leading to a subwavelength focus of prescribed size and shape in a field of view beyond the evanescent fields, when illuminated by a monochromatic wave. Moreover, we demonstrate that such a mask may be used not only as a focusing device but also as a super-resolution imaging device.
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Published date: 2009
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 70921
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/70921
ISSN: 1530-6984
PURE UUID: f2913fe2-a642-4e2b-b8ad-997f1b3b1b4e
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Date deposited: 10 Mar 2010
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:36
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Author:
Fu Min Huang
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