Investigation of the resolution ability of an image inversion interferometer

The present paper presents the experimental measurement of the interferometric point spread function of an image inversion interferometer (III). The measurement was realized by scanning a pointlike source in the object plane and integrating the intensity in the image plane for each position of the point source. The achieved results are compared to the theoretical expectations and the results, which we received in a previous work by using a different method. The improved resolution of two neighbouring points in comparison to the conventional image is demonstrated. In addition we propose an explanation concerning the divergences of the values to be expected in theory.

Research Highlights►Testing of an image-inverting system to increase the resolution of microscopes. ►Resolution (FWHM) was improved by 13%. ►A theoretical model adjusted to our setup was developed.