Super-Resolution Imaging with Patchy Microspheres

The diffraction limit is a fundamental barrier in optical microscopy, which restricts the smallest resolvable feature size of microscopic system. Microsphere-based microscopy has proven to be promosing tool for challenging limit. Nevertheless, microspheres have low imaging contrast air, hinders application this technique. In Letter, we demonstrate that challenge can effectively overcome by using partially Ag-plated microspheres. deposited Ag film acts as an aperture stop blocks portion incident beam, forming photonic hook with oblique near-field illumination. Such significantly enhanced contrast, experimentally verified Blu-ray disc surface and silica particle arrays.