Coherent confocal microscope with a phase-only filter in its extended source

Abstract:

The phase information of an extended source is reconstructed by use of a two-zone (annular) phase-only filter in a coherent confocal scanning optical microscope. The dependence of its resolution on its source size is investigated theoretically by its three-dimensional optical transfer function (3D OTF). The results show that the resolution is improved, even though the source size is enlarged.