k-Microscopy: resolution beyond the diffraction limit

We introduce a novel microscopy method of probing the spatial frequencies of a two dimensional sample with a single point detector allowing for sub- micron resolution with low NA lenses as well as for lateral phase resolution in the nanometer range. We synthesize the spatial frequency coordinate space by illuminating a sample with a TIR configuration and lateral interference fringes generated by a wavelength tunable light source. Similar to OCT the temporal coherence defines the resolution up to the illumination angle but now laterally. The structure is finally reconstructed via inverse Fourier transform of the synthesized k-space.