Solid-immersion imaging interferometric nanoscopy to the limits of available frequency space.

Imaging interferometric nanoscopy (IIN) is a synthetic aperture approach offering the potential of optical resolution to the linear-system limit of optics (~λ/4n). The immersion advantages of IIN can be realized if the object is in close proximity to a solid-immersion medium with illumination and collection through the substrate and coupling this radiation to air by a grating on the medium surface opposite the object. The spatial resolution as a function of the medium thickness and refractive index as well as the field-of-view of the objective optical system is derived and applied to simulations.