Super-resolution microscopy employing propagation-invariant laser beams

Abstract

We propose a novel super-resolution scanning microscopy technique employing higher-order propagationinvariant laser beams. The technique is capable of resolving objects with lateral dimensions smaller than that of the focal spot size defined by a propagating TEM 00 (single mode) Gaussian beam. The field distributions at the object plane are produced by employing a spatial phase modulator. The acquired signals from the localized laser beam nodes are employed in image reconstruction, resulting in post-processed super-resolved images. The desired increase in spatial resolution is associated with an increase in the time required to spatially probe the region of interest covered by the propagating optical field. Our technique is based on a single propagating laser field, and is therefore significantly simpler to implement than techniques employing composite laser fields, such as STED (stimulated emission depletion) microscopy.

Formation of propagation invariant laser beams with anamorphic optical systems

“…The beam irradiance distributions prior to or after the output plane will no longer have axial symmetry. Figure 2a shows the transformation of the input Hermite-Gaussian beam 4,4 into an output beam having the output plane irradiance distribution of a Laguerre-Gaussian beam 4,0 . Figure 2b shows the transformation of the input HermiteGaussian beam 4,1 into an output beam having the output plane irradiance distribution of a "starred" LaguerreGaussian beam 1,2 * .…”

“…Other unique properties of PILBs include self-healing and self-reconstruction [2,3]. PILBs are starting to play an increasingly important role in various photonics applications, including ultrahigh resolution microscopy [4], optical micromanipulation and particle trapping [5], quantum information and quantum cryptography [6], optical communications [7,8], optical metrology [9], and non-linear light-matter interactions [10].…”