Super-resolution Imaging of Limited-size Objects

Abstract: Improvement of label-free far-field resolution of optical imaging is possible with prior knowledge of the object such as its sparsity or accumulated by a posteriori examination of a similar class of object1-4. We show that the sole knowledge of the object's limited size is another fundamental resource to achieve resolution beyond the Abbe-Rayleigh diffraction limit: a higher resolution can be achieved with smaller objects. To prove this, we developed an imaging method that involves the representation of light scattered from the object with orthonormal field-of-view-limited Slepian-Pollak functions and experimentally demonstrated λ/8 resolution of sub-wavelength objects. Our method requires no assumption of the shape and complexity of the object and its labelling allowing a wide range of applications in the studies of nanoparticles and isolated microorganisms.