Experimental characterization of the transfer function for a Silver-dielectric superlens

We describe a technique for experimentally determining the spatial-frequency modulation transfer function for near-field super-resolution imaging systems and present such a modulation transfer function for a 20|40|20 nm poly(vinyl alcohol)~(PVA)|Silver|PVA superlens exposed to 365 nm wavelength (i-line) radiation through a 50-nm thick tungsten mask. An extensive spectral characterization is achieved from only two exposures, with transmission coefficients determined for spatial frequencies as high as 13 µm-1, corresponding to λ / 4.75. The resulting transfer function is in good agreement with analytical models that incorporate the effects of mask-superlens interactions.