Optical microscope with resolution of 50 nm

Previously, the standard optical microscope could only see items around one micrometer -- 0.001 millimeters – clearly but now, by combining an optical microscope with a transparent microsphere, dubbed the 'microsphere nanoscope', the Manchester researchers can see 20 times smaller -- 50 nanometers ((5 x 10-8m) -- under normal light. This is beyond the theoretical limit of optical microscopy. This greatly-increased capacity means the scientists, led by Professor Lin Li and Dr Zengbo Wang, could potentially examine the inside of human cells, and examine live viruses in great detail for the first time.

The scientists, from the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, now believe they can use the microscope to detect far smaller images in the future. The new method has no theoretical limit in the size of a feature that can be seen. The new nano-imaging system is based on capturing optical, near-field virtual images, which are free from optical diffraction and amplifying them using a microsphere, a tiny spherical particle which is further relayed and amplified by a standard optical microscope.