Diffraction Interference Induced Superfocusing in Nonlinear Talbot Effect

Abstract

We report a simple, novel sub-diffraction method, i.e. diffraction interference induced super-focusing in second-harmonic (SH) Talbot effect, to achieve focusing size of less than {\lambda}_pump/8 without involving evanescent waves or sub-wavelength apertures. By tailoring point spread functions with Fresnel diffraction interference, we observe periodic SH sub-diffracted spots over a hundred of micrometers away from the sample. Our demonstration is the first experimental realization of the proposal by Toraldo Di Francia pioneered 60 years ago for super-resolution imaging.