What?
The resolution of an optical microscope is limited to 250 nm by the diffraction limit of light.
Why?
We incorporate a microsphere into an objective lens, creating a spherical front lens. Imaging through this "meta-lens" increases the resolution and magnification of a standard 100x objective.
The Results
We use a microsphere objective lens to surpass the optical diffraction limit. The microsphere, attached to the end of our custom objective lens, sits between the objective lens and the sample, creating a spherical front lens. The microsphere collects the non-propagating evanescent waves which are normally invisible and projects them into the far field. This allows our super-resolution microsphere objective lens to resolve features beyond the optical diffraction limit, in full colour, and in real time using nothing but optics and white-light.
