Related papers: Focusing of light beyond the diffraction limit
Fresnel lenses offer the possibility of concentrating the flux of X-rays or gamma-rays flux falling on a geometric area of many square metres onto a focal point which need only be a millimetre or so in diameter (and which may even be very…
Using sum rules and a new dipole-free sum-over-states expression, we calculate the fundamental limits of the dispersion of the real and imaginary parts of all electronic nonlinear-optical susceptibilities. As such, these general results can…
Optical limiters are designed to transmit low intensity light, while blocking the light with excessively high intensity. A typical passive limiter absorbs excessive electromagnetic energy, which can cause its overheating and destruction. We…
The resolution of far-field optical microscopes, which rely on propagating optical modes, is widely believed to be limited because of diffraction to a value on the order of a half-wavelength $\lambda /2$ of the light used. Although…
Sensing and manipulating targets hidden under scattering media are universal problems that take place in applications ranging from deep-tissue optical imaging to laser surgery. A major issue in these applications is the shallow light…
We experimentally demonstrate for the first time that a radially polarized field can be focussed to a spot size significantly smaller (0.16(1) lambda^2) than for linear polarization (0.26 lambda^2). The effect of the vector properties of…
Recent theoretical and experimental studies have shown that imaging with resolution well beyond the diffraction limit can be obtained with so-called superlenses. Images formed by such superlenses are, however, in the near field only, or a…
Metasurfaces provide a compact, flexible, and reliable solution for controlling the wavefront of light. In imaging systems, micro-lens arrays are integrated with pixel matrices to reduce optical crosstalk, enhance photon collection…
Based on diffraction theory and the propagation of the light, Fourier optics is a powerful tool allowing the estimation of a visible-range imaging system to transfer the spatial frequency components of an object. The analyses of the imaging…
Light refraction, i.e. the bending of the path of a light wave at the interface between two different dielectric media, is ubiquitous in optics. Refraction arises from the different speed of light and is unavoidable in continuous media…
More than half of the volume of our Universe is occupied by cosmic voids. The lensing magnification effect from those under-dense regions is generally thought to give a small dimming contribution: objects on the far side of a void are…
Lenses are crucial to light-enabled technologies. Conventional lenses have been perfected to achieve near-diffraction-limited resolution and minimal chromatic aberrations. However, such lenses are bulky and cannot focus light into a hotspot…
In Optics it is common to split up the formal analysis of diffraction according to two convenient approximations, in the near and far fields (also known as the Fresnel and Fraunhofer regimes, respectively). Within this scenario, geometrical…
We derive a formula for the light field of a monochromatic plane wave that is truncated and reflected by a spherical mirror. Our formula is valid even for deep mirrors, where the aperture radius approaches the radius of curvature. We apply…
The smallest possible focus is achieved when the focused wave front is the time reversed copy of the light wave packet emitted from a point in space (S. Quabis et al., Opt. Commun. 179 (2000) 1-7). The best physical implementation of such a…
Two transformation-optics inspired flat lenses are used to build up an optical system capable to transpose an area surrounding the object focal point in a magnified area surrounding the image focal point. The object and image focal points…
Due to the highly inhomogeneous distributions of refractive indexes, light propagation in complex media such as biological tissue experiences multiple light scattering events. The suppression and control of multiple light scattering events…
Conceptual studies and numerical simulations are performed for imaging devices that transform a near-field pattern into magnified far-zone images and are based on high-order spatial transformation in cylindrical domains. A lens translating…
Superfocusing confines light within subwavelength structures, breaking the diffraction limit. Structures with spatial singularities, such as metallic cones, are crucial to enable nanoscale focusing, leading to significant advancements in…
We demonstrate that a planar and ultrathin binary lens can focus an azimuthally polarized beam with vortical phase (APV) to a subwavelength spot of transverse polarization. The results elaborates that, in the multi-layer medium, this…