BOOSTING THE OPTICAL TRANSFER-FUNCTION WITH A SPATIALLY RESOLVING DETECTOR IN A HIGH NUMERICAL APERTURE CONFOCAL REFLECTION MICROSCOPE

A CCD camera positioned in the conjugated image plane of a scanning la ser microscope is used to record the reflected beam profile. A series of images recorded as the scanning beam moves across an edge is analys ed to reveal its potential for an enhancement of the resolution. Exper imental results are compared to a theoretical analysis. It is shown th at deconvolution is an essential part of a resolution enhancement even with spatially resolving detectors. The paper discusses the arrangeme nt of an improved practical instrument.