Abstract

We put forward the idea of implementing a confocal setup to suppress the large sidelobes spreading all through the field outside the central core. They are produced when an apodization film is imposed on an ordinary lens. Furthermore, this avoids the imaging quality degradation caused by nonaxial points and non-Gaussian-plane points. Also a configuration for achieving three-dimensional superresolution is depicted and discussed.

© 1997 Optical Society of America

Asymmetric apodization in confocal scanning systems

Marek Kowalczyk, Carlos Javier Zapata-Rodríguez, and Manuel Martínez-Corral
Appl. Opt. 37(35) 8206-8214 (1998)

Apodization and the point-spread autocorrelation function

M. Müller and G. J. Brakenhoff
Appl. Opt. 36(13) 2755-2762 (1997)

New class of axially apodizing filters for confocal scanning microscopy

Gilbert Boyer
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 19(3) 584-589 (2002)

Diffractive superresolution elements

Tasso R. M. Sales and G. Michael Morris
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 14(7) 1637-1646 (1997)

Tunable optical sectioning in confocal microscopy by use of symmetrical defocusing and apodization

Manuel Martínez-Corral, Marek Kowalczyk, Carlos J. Zapata-Rodríguez, and Pedro Andrés
Appl. Opt. 37(29) 6914-6921 (1998)