Superresolution beyond the diffraction limit using phase spatial light modulator between incoherently illuminated objects and the entrance of an imaging system.

We present a superresolution technique for imaging objects beyond the diffraction limit imposed by the limited numerical aperture (NA) of a general optical system. A coded phase mask (CPM) displayed on a spatial light modulator is introduced between the object and the input aperture of an ordinary lens-based imaging system. Consequently, the effective NA is increased beyond the inherent NA of the optical imaging system. Unlike conventional systems, the imaging in our proposed method is not direct from an object to a sensor, and the system requires a one-time calibration. In the calibration mode, a point object is mounted in the object plane, and the point spread intensity pattern is recorded. Following the calibration, the system is ready for imaging an arbitrary number of 2D objects. The intensity pattern from any object placed at the same axial location of the point object, and modulated by the same CPM, is recorded once by a digital camera. The superresolved image of the object is reconstructed by a nonlinear cross-correlation between the abovementioned two intensity patterns. The effective NA and the new resolution limit can be tuned by changing the scattering degree of the CPM.