Abstract

Over the past several years Bertero, Pike, and co-workers have built up a theory of resolution based on singular systems analysis. This theory has led to the proposal of a new confocal scanning microscope with a significantly higher resolution than the normal type II microscope. The main new feature of this work has been the utilization of image support which is not fixed geometrically to the object support. In previous attempts to solve the problem of object reconstruction from diffraction-limited image data using an eigenfunction analysis, due to Slepian and Poliak, the extent of the image is restricted to that of the geometric magnification of the object. Clearly, as diffraction effects become increasingly significant, information about the object will fall successively outside the geometric image region. In the confocal scanning microscope, extension of the image support is equivalent to retaining off-axis image plane formation.

© 1989 Optical Society of America