Superresolution microscopy with optimized few-ring superoscillatory illumination
Phys. Rev. A 113, 053504 – Published 4 May, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/t74r-svlb
Abstract
Superoscillation is a phenomenon whereby localized oscillations in a band-limited function can oscillate locally at a rate faster than its highest spatial frequency, providing a promising route to far-field linear superresolution imaging. However, most existing superoscillatory microscopes depend on complex masks consisting of hundreds of rings, which present challenges in fabrication and parameter optimization. In this work, we demonstrate a superresolution microscope that employs a confocal fluorescence configuration, utilizing two-ring structured illumination for a small pinhole and three-ring structured illumination for a large pinhole. By introducing the metrics of effective resolution and energy efficiency, we establish polarization selection guidelines for different numerical apertures and systematically examine the relationship between these two metrics. Moreover, by extending the few-ring modulation concept to a Fresnel zone plate design, we develop a modified Fresnel zone plate that achieves higher energy efficiency than a conventional microscope objective without sacrificing resolution. This work provides a practical strategy for constructing high-performance superoscillatory optical systems with simplified architectures.
