Waveguide optical microscopy

The theoretical aspects of the light scattering on the statistical irregularities of the planar optical waveguide are described. The analysis of direct and inverse light scattering problems is accomplished. The theoretical investigation predicts: the lateral resolution can attain ∼ 20 nm and the vertical resolution (in rms height) can attain ∼ 1 Å. The limiting lateral resolution is a ∼ 15-times less than Abbe's diffraction limit. Thus the superresolution may bee accomplished by the waveguide optical microscopy (WOM). The increasing of WOM's resolution depends on a-priori information of the irregularities and on a sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio. A possible using of WOM for bioecological researchers has been mentioned.