Image formation in surface plasmon polariton mirrors: applications in high-resolution optical microscopy

Image formation in focusing mirrors for surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) is studied numerically. The transition from diffractive to geometrical optics is traced as a function of mirror size and surface polariton wavelength. The role of the mirror shape and the SPP propagation length in the image formation is also investigated. The small losses are shown to be helpful for imaging with surface waves, resulting in the increased contrast and reduced background of the images. Surface polariton focusing mirrors have recently found important applications in high-resolution optical microscopy based on short-wavelength SPP