Superresolving scanning optical microscopy using holographic optical processing

Abstract

Two novel superrresolving scanning microscopes, one of which uses coherent imaging and the other incoherent imaging, are described. The optical arrangement used in the coherent microscope is similar to that in a scanning confocal microscope with the detector pinhole replaced by a special holographic mask, a Fourier lens, and a pinhole. The incoherent design uses two intensity-transmittance masks, two integrating detectors, and an electronic subtractor. The design of the microscopes is based on the results of singular-system theory, and the mask forms are calculated by means of this analysis. These arrangements obviate the need for an array of detectors to implement singular-system processing, and in the coherent case direct phase measurement is no longer required. Experimental results are presented that demonstrate a significant resolution improvement for a one-dimensional low-numerical-aperture coherent microscope.

Super-Resolution Laser Scanning Microscopy through Spatiotemporal Modulation

“…When the illumination pattern is physical, it cannot take negative values. The mask’s transmittance cannot be negative either, unless special detection configurations are utilized 50. Thus there is always a DC component in the “carrier wave”, corresponding to the h̃ ex (0) δ ( k ) term in eq 12.…”

Analysis of the CLEAN algorithm and implications for superresolution

“…The concept of superresolution has an allure that continues to attract researchers with its promise of achieving better resolution than the limit that is nominally associated with an instrument, [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] i.e., better than that given by the Rayleigh criterion (or Rayleigh limit). This limit is conventionally expressed by the statement that for imaging at a wavelength l with an aperture whose maximum dimension is D, two point sources cannot be resolved if their apparent angular separation is less than l͞D.…”

Subdiffraction incoherent optical imaging via spatial-mode demultiplexing

“…The use of coherent optical processing to improve the lateral resolution of incoherent imaging has thus far received only modest attention, as prior proposals [13,[20][21][22][23][24][25] either did not demonstrate any substantial improvement or neglected the important effect of noise. Using quantum optics and parameter estimation theory, here I show that, for any object too small to be resolved by diffraction-limited direct imaging, SPADE can estimate its second or higher moments much more precisely than direct imaging can fundamentally do in the presence of photon shot noise.…”