Abstract

Recently, Boto et al.¹ showed that using N entangled photons and an N-photon responsive lithographic recording medium, one could potentially write lithographic gratings with a resolution that is N times better than the classical Rayleigh criterion. An anticipated experimental difficulty is that such beams are weak, yet strong fields are needed to excite the N-photon absorption process. For the case of N = 2, which was described in detail by Boto et al., we propose a method to overcome this problem. We also propose to use this idea “in reverse” to perform microscopy with better resolution than allowed by the Rayleigh limit.

© 2001 Optical Society of America