Open AccessSuperresolution effect due to a thin dielectric slab for imaging with radially polarized light
Author(s) -
Peiwen Meng,
Silvania F. Pereira,
Xiujie Dou,
H. P. Urbach
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.390602
Subject(s) - optics , diffraction , numerical aperture , dielectric , materials science , wavelength , lens (geology) , near and far field , microscopy , aperture (computer memory) , image resolution , near field scanning optical microscope , optical microscope , optoelectronics , physics , scanning electron microscope , acoustics
Improving the image quality of small particles is a classic problem and especially challenging when the distance between particles are below the optical diffraction limit. We propose a imaging system illuminated with radially polarized light combined with a suitable substrate that contains a thin dielectric layer to demonstrate that the imaging quality can be enhanced. The coupling between the evanescent wave produced in a designed thin dielectric layer, the small particles and the propagating wave forms a mechanism to transfer sub-wavelength information about the particles to the far field. The smallest distinguished distance reaches to 0.634λ, when the imaging system is composed of a high numerical aperture (NA=0.9) lens and the illumination wavelength λ = 632nm, beyond the diffraction limit 0.678λ. The lateral resolution can be further improved by combining the proposed structure with superresolution microscopy techniques.