2
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Superoscillation: from physics to optical applications

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          The resolution of conventional optical elements and systems has long been perceived to satisfy the classic Rayleigh criterion. Paramount efforts have been made to develop different types of superresolution techniques to achieve optical resolution down to several nanometres, such as by using evanescent waves, fluorescence labelling, and postprocessing. Superresolution imaging techniques, which are noncontact, far field and label free, are highly desirable but challenging to implement. The concept of superoscillation offers an alternative route to optical superresolution and enables the engineering of focal spots and point-spread functions of arbitrarily small size without theoretical limitations. This paper reviews recent developments in optical superoscillation technologies, design approaches, methods of characterizing superoscillatory optical fields, and applications in noncontact, far-field and label-free superresolution microscopy. This work may promote the wider adoption and application of optical superresolution across different wave types and application domains.

          Using superoscillations in light for superresolution imagery

          Researchers are getting closer to achieving ‘superresolution’ images by employing localized high-amplitude oscillations in light waves. Cheng-Wei Qiu of the National University of Singapore and colleagues in China reviewed developments in optical ‘superoscillation’ technologies, which aim to overcome current limitations in superresolution techniques requiring contact with the observed object, the use of fluorescent labels, or viewing that is restricted to the near-field of a lens. Superoscillation is a mathematical phenomenon in which a light wave contains local frequencies that are large in amplitude. Optical systems employing this phenomenon could improve the ability to distinguish two tiny objects separated by nanoscale-length distances. Recent developments show potential for applications in telescopes, microscopy, and ultrahigh density optical data storage. Improving the design of superoscillatory lenses could overcome challenges in efficiently focusing more of the incident optical energy.

          Related collections

          Most cited references159

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Far-field optical nanoscopy.

          In 1873, Ernst Abbe discovered what was to become a well-known paradigm: the inability of a lens-based optical microscope to discern details that are closer together than half of the wavelength of light. However, for its most popular imaging mode, fluorescence microscopy, the diffraction barrier is crumbling. Here, I discuss the physical concepts that have pushed fluorescence microscopy to the nanoscale, once the prerogative of electron and scanning probe microscopes. Initial applications indicate that emergent far-field optical nanoscopy will have a strong impact in the life sciences and in other areas benefiting from nanoscale visualization.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Nonlinear structured-illumination microscopy: wide-field fluorescence imaging with theoretically unlimited resolution.

            Contrary to the well known diffraction limit, the fluorescence microscope is in principle capable of unlimited resolution. The necessary elements are spatially structured illumination light and a nonlinear dependence of the fluorescence emission rate on the illumination intensity. As an example of this concept, this article experimentally demonstrates saturated structured-illumination microscopy, a recently proposed method in which the nonlinearity arises from saturation of the excited state. This method can be used in a simple, wide-field (nonscanning) microscope, uses only a single, inexpensive laser, and requires no unusual photophysical properties of the fluorophore. The practical resolving power is determined by the signal-to-noise ratio, which in turn is limited by photobleaching. Experimental results show that a 2D point resolution of <50 nm is possible on sufficiently bright and photostable samples.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: not found
              • Article: not found

              Beiträge zur Theorie des Mikroskops und der mikroskopischen Wahrnehmung

              E. Abbe (1873)
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                eleqc@nus.edu.sg
                Journal
                Light Sci Appl
                Light Sci Appl
                Light, Science & Applications
                Nature Publishing Group UK (London )
                2095-5545
                2047-7538
                12 June 2019
                12 June 2019
                2019
                : 8
                : 56
                Affiliations
                [1 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0154 0904, GRID grid.190737.b, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, , Chongqing University, ; 174 Shazheng Street, Chongqing, 400044 China
                [2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2180 6431, GRID grid.4280.e, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, , National University of Singapore, ; 4 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore, 117583 Singapore
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6605-500X
                Article
                163
                10.1038/s41377-019-0163-9
                6560133
                31231522
                bfd89584-9358-4f2f-9f39-4261002352bc
                © The Author(s) 2019

                Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

                History
                : 21 January 2019
                : 14 May 2019
                : 21 May 2019
                Funding
                Funded by: FundRef https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001381, National Research Foundation Singapore (National Research Foundation-Prime Minister's office, Republic of Singapore);
                Award ID: NRF-CRP15-2015-03
                Award Recipient :
                Funded by: FundRef https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001809, National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China);
                Award ID: 61575031
                Award Recipient :
                Categories
                Review Article
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2019

                sub-wavelength optics,nanophotonics and plasmonics

                Comments

                Comment on this article