Abstract

Subtractive imaging is used to suppress the axial sidelobes and improve the axial resolution of 4pi microscopy with a higher-order radially polarized (RP) Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) beam. A solid-shaped point spread function (PSF) and a doughnut-shaped PSF with a dark spot along the optical axis are generated by tightly focusing a higher-order RP-LG beam and a modulated circularly polarized beam, respectively. By subtracting the two images obtained with those two different PSFs, the axial sidelobes of the subtracted PSF are reduced from 37% to about 10% of the main lobe, and the axial resolution is increased from 0.21λ to 0.15λ.

© 2019 Chinese Laser Press

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