Optical Imaging with Resolution Exceeding the Rayleigh Criterion

Results are presented of an optical imaging experiment in which resolution in excess of the Rayleigh criterion but in accordance with a recent singular value analysis was achieved. A low Shannon number object was illuminated with coherent light and the diffraction-limited image was sampled over a spatial extent many times larger than the geometrical image size. The enhancement in resolution was achieved by using the iterative spectral extrapolation algorithm, known as the Gerchberg method.