Axial field engineering in the nonparaxial domain

The design of axially super-resolving phase pupil filters based on the scalar theory of diffraction is limited to low numerical aperture (NA) focusing. To account for the non-paraxiality encountered in high-NA optical systems, we propose a design procedure based on the method of generalized projections that incorporates the electromagnetic theory of diffraction. A solution is identified that narrows the axial intensity of the central lobe by 29% while maintaining the side lobe intensity below 52% of the peak intensity. It is found that solutions obtained with this method depend strongly on the applied constraints and the starting pupil filter.

[1]  Satoshi Kawata,et al.  Scaling laws of voxels in two-photon photopolymerization nanofabrication , 2003 .

[2]  Vidal F. Canales,et al.  Focusing properties of annular binary phase filters , 2004 .

[3]  Silvania F. Pereira,et al.  Superresolution by means of polarisation, phase and amplitude pupil masks , 2004 .

[4]  Henry Stark,et al.  Design of continuous and quantized amplitude holograms by generalized projections , 1997 .

[5]  Joseph Shamir,et al.  Synthesis of three-dimensional light fields and applications , 2002, Proc. IEEE.

[6]  Jim Swoger,et al.  Tailoring the axial shape of the point spread function using the Toraldo concept. , 2002, Optics express.

[7]  Genaro Saavedra,et al.  Quasi-isotropic 3-D resolution in two-photon scanning microscopy. , 2005, Optics express.

[8]  Bernard C. Kress.  Digital diffractive optics , 2000 .

[9]  J Rosen.  Synthesis of nondiffracting beams in free space. , 1994, Optics letters.

[10]  Aharon Levi,et al.  Image restoration by the method of generalized projections with application to restoration from magnitude , 1984 .

[11]  M. Cagigal,et al.  Analytical design of superresolving phase filters , 2004 .

[12]  Stephen M. Kuebler.  NONLINEAR OPTICS, APPLICATIONS | Three-Dimensional Microfabrication , 2005 .

[13]  Yingbai Yan,et al.  Design of three-dimensional superresolution filters and limits of axial optical superresolution. , 2003, Applied optics.

[14]  E. Wolf,et al.  Electromagnetic diffraction in optical systems - I. An integral representation of the image field , 1959, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[15]  Mario Bertero,et al.  Superresolving masks for incoherent high-numerical-aperture scanning microscopy in three dimensions , 1998 .

[16]  G. Saavedra,et al.  Quasi‐spherical focal spot in two‐photon scanning microscopy by three‐ring apodization , 2005, Microscopy research and technique.

[17]  Vidal F. Canales,et al.  Three-dimensional control of the focal light intensity distribution by analytically designed phase masks , 2005 .

[18]  H. Ando,et al.  Optical Head with Annular Phase-Shifting Apodizer , 1993, Conference Digest Joint International Symposium on Optical Memory and Optical Data Storage 1993.

[19]  Tony Wilson,et al.  Imaging properties of high aperture multiphoton fluorescence scanning optical microscopes , 1999 .

[20]  Frank Wyrowski,et al.  Diffractive optical elements: iterative calculation of quantized, blazed phase structures , 1990 .

[21]  Rishi Kant,et al.  Superresolution and increased depth of focus: An inverse problem of vector diffraction , 2000 .