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In astronomy or biological imaging, refractive index inhomogeneities of e.g. atmosphere or tissues induce optical aberrations which degrade the desired information hidden behind the medium. A standard approach consists in measuring these…
For over a century diffraction theory has been thought to limit the resolution of focusing and imaging in the optical domain. The size of the smallest spot achievable is inversely proportional to the range of spatial wavevectors available.…
Emission spectroscopy is an invaluable tool for probing the atmospheres of brown dwarfs and exoplanets, but interpretations based on flux spectra alone often suffer from degeneracies among temperature structure, chemical composition, and…
Digital micromirror devices are a popular type of spatial light modulators for wavefront shaping applications. While they offer several advantages when compared to liquid crystal modulators, such as polarization insensitivity and…
We suggest a scheme to manipulate paraxial diffraction by utilizing the dependency of a four-wave mixing process on the relative angle between the light fields. A microscopic model for four-wave mixing in a Lambda-type level structure is…
Passive optical elements can play key roles in photonic applications such as plasmonic integrated circuits. Here we experimentally demonstrate passive gap-plasmon focusing and routing in two-dimensions. This is accomplished using a high…
A theoretical study of photonic bands for one-dimensional (1D) lattices embedded in planar waveguides with strong refractive index contrast is presented. The approach relies on expanding the electromagnetic field on the basis of guided…
The concept of the diffraction limit put forth by Ernst Abbe and others has been an important guiding principle limiting our ability to tightly focus classical waves, such as light and sound, in the far field. In the past decade, numerous…
A new far-field optical microscopy technique capable of reaching nanometer-scale resolution has been developed recently using the in-plane image magnification by surface plasmon polaritons. This microscopy is based on the optical properties…
What does the diffraction pattern from a single atom look like? How does it differ from the scattering from long range potential? With the development of new high-dynamic range pixel array detectors to measure the complete momentum…
Fluorescence microscopy is an important and extensively utilised tool for imaging biological systems. However, the image resolution that can be obtained has a limit as defined through the laws of diffraction. Demand for improved resolution…
In this chapter we present a brief summary of methods, instruments and calibration techniques used in modern astronomical polarimetry in the optical wavelengths. We describe the properties of various polarization devices and detectors used…
A new generation of telescopes with mirror diameters of 20 m or more, called extremely large telescopes (ELTs) has the potential to provide unprecedented imaging and spectroscopy of exo-planetary systems, if the difficulties in achieving…
We demonstrate a new approach to classical fiber-fed spectroscopy. Our method is to use a photonic lantern that converts an arbitrary (e.g. incoherent) input beam into N diffraction-limited outputs. For the highest throughput, the number of…
We designed and built a new astronomical photo-polarimeter that can measure linear polarization simultaneously in three spectral bands. It has a Calcite beamdisplacement prism as the analyzer. The ordinary and extra-ordinary emerging beams…
Neutron reflectometry is a critical tool for investigating the structure of thin films and interfaces. However, the misapplication of the Born approximation to reflection geometry leads some to assume that the minimum thickness that may be…
In the last decade, imaging polarimeters based on micropolarizer arrays have been developed for use in terrestrial remote sensing and metrology applications. Micropolarizer-based sensors are dramatically smaller and more mechanically robust…
The initial demonstrations over the last several years of the use of optical diffraction radiation (ODR) as non-intercepting electron-beam-parameter monitors are reviewed. Developments in both far-field imaging and near-field imaging are…
High sensitivity receiver systems with near ideal polarization sensitivity are highly desirable for development of millimeter and sub-millimeter radio astronomy. Multimoded bolometers provide a unique solution to achieve such sensitivity,…
Spectral imaging is a fundamental diagnostic technique with widespread application. Conventional spectral imaging approaches have intrinsic limitations on spatial and spectral resolutions due to the physical components they rely on. To…