The Problem
The resolution of an optical microscope is limited by the wavelength of light used to illuminate the sample. In practice, this theoretical upper limit can be hard to achieve. Due to theoretical and practical limitations, typical values of optical resolution for a white light microscope tend to be in the 300 nm to 400 nm range. The problem is then; how to achieve higher resolution with the same light source?
Our Solution
We have created a whole new objective lens (SMAL) that incorporates microsphere optics to create a super-resolution (sub 100 nm) optic. Imaging through this SMAL lens significantly increases the resolution and magnification that we can see.
How it works
We use a Super-resolution Microsphere Amplifying Lens (SMAL) to surpass the optical diffraction limit. The microsphere optics are part of the SMAL objective lens which collects the non-propagating evanescent waves that are normally invisible, projecting 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.
