Diffraction interference induced superfocusing in nonlinear Talbot effect

Dongmei Liu; Yong Zhang; Jianming Wen; Zhenhua Chen; Dunzhao Wei; Xiaopeng Hu; Gang Zhao; S N Zhu; Min Xiao

doi:10.1038/srep06134

Diffraction interference induced superfocusing in nonlinear Talbot effect

Sci Rep. 2014 Aug 20:4:6134. doi: 10.1038/srep06134.

Authors

Dongmei Liu¹, Yong Zhang¹, Jianming Wen², Zhenhua Chen¹, Dunzhao Wei¹, Xiaopeng Hu¹, Gang Zhao¹, S N Zhu¹, Min Xiao³

Affiliations

¹ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
² Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA.
³ 1] National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China [2] Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA.

Abstract

We report a simple, novel subdiffraction method, i.e. diffraction interference induced superfocusing in second-harmonic (SH) Talbot effect, to achieve focusing size of less than λSH/4 (or λpump/8) without involving evanescent waves or subwavelength apertures. By tailoring point spread functions with Fresnel diffraction interference, we observe periodic SH subdiffracted spots over a hundred of micrometers away from the sample. Our demonstration is the first experimental realization of the Toraldo di Francia's proposal pioneered 62 years ago for superresolution imaging.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't