Reconciling super-resolution imaging predictions from the time-reversal cavity and Fourier optics

The resolution of traditional imaging techniques, including time-reversal imaging, is diffraction-limited.In the theory of the time-reversal cavity, the limit stems from the interference between diverging and converging waves, irrespective of the distance between the direct-time source and the timereversal mirror.This appears to contradict the well-known fact that evanescent waves in the near field of the source are necessary to obtain subwavelength images.We shed light on this apparent contradiction by drawing explicit links between both approaches.We illustrate the findings with a simulation of a resonant metalens.