Ab initio simulation of imaging of wavelength-sized objects and estimation of resolution.

Image characterization in microscopy, in particular, the estimation of its resolution, requires detailed knowledge of its relation to the object. For objects with sizes comparable to or smaller than the operating wavelength, such a relation can be obtained only by considering electromagnetic scattering described by the Maxwell equations. Here we follow precisely the steps involved in the image formation in microscopy with broad angle illumination-starting from the Maxwell equations to find the scattered far fields for each plane wave, projecting them into a sensor array, and finally assembling the incoherent image by adding all coherent contributions.

Electromagnetic wave transformation in an oscillator medium with growing density.

The model of a medium made of oscillators can describe various materials, including artificial ones made of meta-atoms. Here the transformation of an electromagnetic wave in such a medium with rapidly growing oscillator density is studied. The initial polariton is shown to be transformed not only into new polariton modes but also into natural oscillations of the existing and created oscillators.