Pushing the resolution limit of coherent diffractive imaging

Li Liu; Jinxiang Du; Bailin Zhuang; Ming Gong; Jiamin Liu; Honggang Gu; Shiyuan Liu

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-01963-2

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Pushing the resolution limit of coherent diffractive imaging

Original Articles

- Pushing the resolution limit of coherent diffractive imaging
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 10, Pages: 3139-3149(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
  2.School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
  3.Optics Valley Laboratory, Wuhan, Hubei, China
  4.Guangdong HUST Industrial Technology Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Manufacturing Equipment Digitization, Dongguan, Guangdong, China
- Author bio：
  
  Honggang Gu (hongganggu@hust.edu.cn)
  Shiyuan Liu (shyliu@hust.edu.cn)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-01963-2
  CLC：
- Received：19 January 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-06-10，
  
  Accepted：17 July 2025，
  
  Published Online：28 August 2025，
  
  Published：31 October 2025
- Accepted：
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Liu, L. et al. Pushing the resolution limit of coherent diffractive imaging. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 3139-3149 (2025).
DOI：

Liu, L. et al. Pushing the resolution limit of coherent diffractive imaging. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 3139-3149 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-01963-2.

摘要

Abstract

Coherent diffractive imaging (CDI)

with its lensless geometry and theoretically perfect transfer function

is considered as one of the most promising paradigms to achieve the Abbe resolution limit. However

recent advances on pushing the resolution limit in high-numerical-aperture (NA) CDIs has thus far been challenging. Here

we report a nearly 0.9NA CDI with an optimized imaging factor (

= 0.501)

pushing the Abbe resolution diffraction limit for the first time in ultra-high-NA scenarios. Leveraging this the ultra-high NA and the Abbe-limit

-factor

we demonstrate a record-high imaging resolution of 0.57

for CDIs. Our approach builds upon a nove

l computational framework termed 'rigorous Fraunhofer diffraction' that eliminates the Ewald sphere effect in CDIs

particularly for high NAs. Our framework transforms the general challenge of high-NA

resolution-limited CDIs from relying on approximate and complicated geometric corrections to a solvable problem through rigorous model-based computation.

关键词

Keywords

references

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