A complete and computationally efficient numerical model of aplanatic solid immersion lens scanning microscope

Abstract

This paper presents a computational model for modeling an aplanatic solid immersion lens scanning microscope. The scanning microscope model consists of three subsystems, each of which can be computed as a separate system, connected to the preceding or succeeding subsystem through the input/output only. Numerical techniques are used to enhance the computational efficiency of each subsystem. A distinct merit of the proposed model is that it can be used to simulate imaging results for diverse setups of the scanning microscope, like various polarizations, numerical aperture, and different detector pinhole sizes. It allows the study and analysis of both theoretical aspects like achievable resolution, and practical aspects like expected images for different object patterns and experimental setups. Further, due to its computational efficiency, diverse large scale structures can be easily simulated in scanning microscope and good experimental approaches determined before indulging into the time consuming and costly process of experimentation. © 2013 Optical Society of America.