Evanescent fields do contribute to the far field (1999,J. mod. Optics, 46, 729)

In a series of papers, Xiao has described a decomposition of the electric field of an electric dipole into homogeneous and evanescent components. Although the decomposition may be formally correct, the components do not correspond with the usual homogeneous and evanescent components, and the conclusions made about resolution of near-field and conventional microscopy are misleading.