Omni-resonant imaging across the visible

Abstract

Resonant field enhancement in optical cavities is provided over only narrow linewidths and for specific spatial modes. Consequently, spectrally restrictive planar Fabry-P{\'e}rot cavities have not contributed to date to white-light imaging, which necessitates a highly multimoded broadband field to satisfy the resonance condition. Here we show that introducing judicious angular-dispersion circumvents the fundamental trade-off between cavity linewidth and finesse in a Fabry-P{\'e}rot cavity by exciting a 130-nm-bandwidth achromatic resonance across the visible spectrum, which far exceeds the finesse-limited linewidth (0.5~nm), and even exceeds the free spectral range (45~nm). This omni-resonant configuration enables broadband color-imaging over a 100-nm-bandwidth in the visible with minimal spherical and chromatic aberrations. We demonstrate omni-resonant imaging using coherent and incoherent light, and spatially extended and localized fields comprising stationary and moving objects. This work paves the way to harnessing broadband resonant enhancements for spatially structured fields, as needed for example in solar windows.