Abstract

Microscopy, in general, results from conventional lens-based optical instruments. These instruments, as a matter of principle, work in the far-field region and are limited in their resolution by the wavelength of the illuminating source. Relying on the near-field description of the surface being imaged, a new generation of lensless microscopes is being developed.2 for solution of the electric-field distribution in the case of an arbitrarily polarized plane wave obliquely incident on a metallic strip, we can obtain the distribution of these electromagnetic fields. The theoretical effect of variation of certain parameters, such as surface resistivity, and how close we are to the object under observation, defined by the observation height h_ob, allow us to obtain valuable information about the near-field region. Variation in the observed width of the strip is apparent when we vary the surface resistivity as well as when we vary h_ob.

© 1991 Optical Society of America