title: Diffraction-based solid immersion lens.
abstract: A solid immersion lens based on diffraction (dSIL) is proposed as an alternative to the conventional design based on refraction. A design analogous to a Fresnel zone plate is derived in accordance with the Huygens-Fresnel principle. Fabrication of a binary dSIL is achieved by electron-beam lithography and reactive-ion etching on LaSF35, with index n = 2.014. Measurement of the point-spread function is performed with near-field optical microscopy. The results are in accord with the expected resolution enhancement of a factor n with respect to the diffraction limit.
authors.affiliation: Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH, Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 10, 07745 Jena, Germany. rbrunner@zeiss.de
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brunner
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burkhardt
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pesch
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sandfuchs
authors.forename: Margit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferstl
authors.forename: Sungchul
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hohng
authors.forename: Jeffrey O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: White