title: Enhanced resolution beyond the Abbe diffraction limit with wavelength-scale solid immersion lenses.
abstract: The solid immersion lens (SIL) is a well-developed near-field optical device for imaging and data storage. Recent experiments have demonstrated high-quality imaging beyond the diffraction limit by nanoscale lenses in an SIL-type implementation [Nature 460, 498 (2009)]; we call these nSIL. A question arises as to what resolution is obtainable with an nSIL. From full three-dimensional, finite-difference time-domain calculations, we demonstrate that the FWHM of the focal spot of an objective-lens-nSIL system can be reduced by greater than 25% compared to a regular macroscopic SIL.
authors.affiliation: Center for Superfunctional Materials, Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology, San 31, Hyojadong, Namgu, Pohang 790-784, South Korea.
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: Mikhail V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Jouravlev
authors.forename: Kwang S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kim