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Sub-wavelength image stitching with removable microsphere-embedded thin film

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Abstract

Imaging by dielectric microspheres embedded in thin film is a simple technique to achieve optical super-resolution. However, the film-thickness effect has not caused enough attention, and its field of view (FOV) is very limited. We first introduce a method to fabricate barium titanate glass (BTG) microsphere-embedded ultrathin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) films, and study their sub-wavelength imaging properties as a function of the film thickness. Our experimental results reveal that for an individual microsphere, its FOV obviously increases as the film thickness decreases, while the corresponding magnification changes barely. When the PDMS film thickness is 5–10 μm, the FOV of a microsphere is the largest, and the images produced by the neighboring close-packed microspheres with the same size can be stitched together to form a large image, realizing effective view expansion. Our results will boost the practical capacity of BTG microsphere-embedded film for sub-wavelength imaging.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, People’s Republic of China

    Bintao Du, Yong-Hong Ye, Jinglei Hou, Minglei Guo & Tian Wang

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  1. Bintao Du
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  2. Yong-Hong Ye
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  3. Jinglei Hou
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  4. Minglei Guo
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  5. Tian Wang
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Correspondence to Yong-Hong Ye.

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Du, B., Ye, YH., Hou, J. et al. Sub-wavelength image stitching with removable microsphere-embedded thin film. Appl. Phys. A 122, 15 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-015-9528-y

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