Beat the Rayleigh limit: OAM based super-resolution diffraction tomography

Abstract: This letter is the first to report that a super-resolution imaging beyond the Rayleigh limit can be achieved by using classical diffraction tomography (DT) extended with orbital angular momentum (OAM), termed as OAM based diffraction tomography (OAM-DT). It is well accepted that the orbital angular momentum (OAM) provides additional electromagnetic degrees of freedom. This concept has been widely applied in science and technology. In this letter we revisit the DT problem extended with OAM, demonstrate theoretically and numerically that there is no physical limits on imaging resolution in principle by the OAM-DT. This super-resolution OAM-DT imaging paradigm, has no requirement for evanescent fields, subtle focusing lens, complicated post-processing, etc., thus provides a new approach to realize the wavefield imaging of universal objects with sub-wavelength resolution.