Extending resolution of scanning optical microscopy beyond the Abbe limit through the assistance of InSb thin layers

National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [51172253, 61137002]The resolution of light imaging is required to extend beyond the Abbe limit to the subdiffraction, or even nanoscale. In this Letter, we propose to extend the resolution of scanning optical microscopy (SOM) beyond the Abbe limit as a kind of subdiffraction imaging technology through the assistance of InSb thin layers due to obvious nonlinear saturation absorption and reversible formation of an optical pinhole channel. The results show that the imaging resolution is greatly improved compared with the SOM itself. This work provides a way to improve the resolution of SOM without changing the SOM itself, but through the assistance of InSb thin layers. This is also a simple and practical way to extend the resolution of SOM beyond the Abbe limit. (C) 2016 Optical Society of Americ