Superresolution via enhanced evanescent tunneling

We here propose the concept of enhanced evanescent tunneling (EET). Our analysis indicates that by means of a suitable control field, the transmission of evanescent waves across a forbidden gap can be enhanced by several orders of magnitude—well beyond the ordinary frustrated total internal reflection case. We show how such a phenomenon can be used to probe both the amplitude and phase of the evanescent portion of the angular spectrum, thereby allowing target superresolution. In principle EET can be manifested in other areas of physics where wave tunneling is involved. © 2011 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 240.7040, 260.2110. The resolution limitations of conventional far-field optics are well known and they are fundamental by nature. The physics of free space electromagnetic propagation itself prevents the possibility of resolving features beyond the so-called Abbe–Rayleigh limit [1]. The information as-sociated with subwavelength details of an illuminated object is in fact carried by evanescent waves, which de-cay exponentially with distance and are eventually lost