Plasmonic Superlens Imaging Enhanced by Incoherent Active Convolved Illumination

TL;DR

This paper presents a loss compensation technique for plasmonic superlens imaging that enhances resolution to tens of nanometers using incoherent light, with theoretical, numerical, and simulated proof-of-concept results.

Contribution

It introduces a novel loss compensation method utilizing incoherent active convolved illumination to improve superlens imaging resolution.

Findings

Achieved resolution of around 15% of the free space wavelength.

Demonstrated theoretical and numerical effectiveness of the method.

Provided a simulated physical implementation as proof-of-principle.

Abstract

We introduce a loss compensation method to increase the resolution of near-field imaging with a plasmonic superlens that relies on the convolution of a high spatial frequency passband function with the object. Implementation with incoherent light removes the need for phase information. The method is described theoretically and numerical imaging results with artificial noise are presented, which display enhanced resolution of a few tens of nanometers, or around one-fifteenth of the free space wavelength. A physical implementation of the method is designed and simulated to provide a proof-of-principle, and steps toward experimental implementation are discussed.