Interferometric imaging with three objectives.

Area of Science:

• Optical microscopy
• Super-resolution imaging
• Microscope instrumentation

Background:

• Standard wide-field and confocal microscopy techniques have limitations in resolution and point-spread function (PSF) isotropy.
• Achieving higher resolution and isotropic imaging is crucial for detailed biological and material science investigations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel microscope design utilizing multiple high numerical aperture (NA) objectives.
• To achieve a higher resolution and more isotropic point-spread function (PSF) compared to existing microscopy methods.
• To present the theoretical framework for evaluating this new microscope's performance.

Main Methods:

• Employing three high numerical aperture (0.9 NA) objectives for multi-angle sample imaging.
• Interferometrically combining the optical fields from each objective.
• Developing a theoretical framework to evaluate microscope performance and compare it with existing techniques.

Main Results:

• The proposed microscope achieves an effective NA of 2.7 and a point-spread function (PSF) full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 135 nm in the imaging plane.
• This represents a twofold improvement in lateral resolution compared to single-objective microscopy.
• Out-of-plane resolution remains comparable to conventional microscopes.

Conclusions:

• The novel multi-objective interferometric microscope offers superior lateral resolution and improved PSF isotropy.
• This technique provides a significant advancement over standard wide-field and confocal microscopy for high-resolution imaging.
• The theoretical framework enables quantitative performance evaluation and comparison with established imaging modalities.