Abstract

The new confocal microscope of Bertero and Pike improves on the resolution of the conventional type II confocal scanning microscope by a maximum factor of 2. Their theoretical analysis was achieved by a generalization of the Slepian and Poliak eigenfunction approach to resolution, namely, a singular system analysis. As diffraction effects become more important, significant information regarding the object successively begins to appear outside the geometric image region. The singular system analysis, unlike the Slepian and Poliak work, allows the object and image supports to differ.

© 1989 Optical Society of America