Increasing spatial resolution in optical microscopy systems using low-magnification micro lenses

Optical microscopy systems are an important research method in many medical and industrial applications. Spatial resolution depends on the design of the objective lens and the field of view narrows as magnification increases. As the resolution increases, the field of view narrows. The maximum field of view is achieved with lenses with low magnification ratio and correspondingly low spatial resolution. Lenses with low resolution are structurally simple to manufacture and therefore inexpensive. Therefore, the use of such lenses to increase spatial resolution is a promising direction. The purpose of this work is to investigate the possibility of increasing the spatial resolution of optical microscopy systems using micro-lenses with a low magnification ratio while maintaining their inherent wide field of view. Improvement of spatial resolution is realized with the help of the approach proposed in the paper based on the technology of subpixel scanning and introduction of aperture function independent of the image properties. In this case, the spectrum of the image synthesized with the help of subpixel scanning technology is compensated by the multiplier of the proposed aperture function, the type of which depends only on the type of lens aperture and does not depend on the properties of the object under study. For realization of subpixel shift scanning the modification of the slide of metallographic aggregate microscope METAM-R1 was carried out. The two-coordinate stage can be positioned with high accuracy under computer control. The obtained experimental results show the realizability of the proposed approach. The disadvantage of the proposed approach is the necessity to use an additional subpixel shift system. However, in many cases the use of subpixel shifts is more preferable than the use of complex lenses with high resolution and small field of view.