On subwavelength resolution granted by dielectric microparticles

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates how dielectric microcylinders can achieve subwavelength resolution in far-field nanoimaging, revealing that higher refractive indices enable finer spatial resolution at large distances.

Contribution

It introduces a new theoretical scenario for superresolution imaging with microspheres, showing that higher refractive indices improve far-field resolution.

Findings

Higher refractive indices enhance resolution.

Superresolution can be achieved in far-field imaging.

The novel scenario outperforms traditional methods.

Abstract

In this work we report a theoretical study of the lateral resolution granted by a simple glass microcylinder. In this 2D study, we had in mind the 3D analogue -- a microsphere whose ability to form a deeply subwavelength and strongly magnified image of submicron objects has been known since 2011. Conventionally, the microscope in which such the image is observed is tuned so that to see the areas behind the microsphere. This corresponds to the location of the virtual source formed by the microsphere at a distance longer than the distance of the real source to the miscroscope. Recently, we theoretically found a new scenario of superresolution, when the virtual source is formed in the wave beam transmitted through the microsphere. However, in this work we concentrated on the case when the superresolution is achieved in the impractical imaging system, in which the microscope objective lens is replaced by a microlens located at a distance smaller than the Rayleigh range. The present paper theoretically answers an important question: which scenario of far-field nanoimaging by a microsphere grants the finest spatial at very large distances. We found that the novel scenario (corresponding to higher refractive indices) promises further enhancement of the resolution.