Talbot effect in waveforms containing subwavelength multilobe superoscillations

The self-imaging of periodic light patterns, also known as the Talbot effect, is usually limited to periods that are larger than the wavelength. Here we present, theoretically and experimentally, a method to overcome this limitation by using superoscillating light patterns. The input intensity distribution is a periodic band-limited function with relatively large periods, but it contains regions of multilobe periodic oscillations with periods that are smaller than half of the wavelength. We observe the revival of the input pattern, including the subwavelength superoscillating regions, at large distances of more than 40 times the optical wavelength. Moreover, at fractional Talbot distances, we observe even faster local oscillations, with periods of approximately one-third of the optical wavelength.