Date/Time
Date(s) - 02/06/2009
3:20 pm - 4:20 pm

Title: Optical Superoscillations

Speaker: Dr. Michael Berry – University of Bristol

Institute: University of Bristol

Location: MDCL-1110

Description:

Band-limited functions can oscillate arbitrarily faster than their fastest Fourier component over arbitrarily long intervals. Where such ‘superoscillations’occur, functions are exponentially weak. In typical monochromatic optical fields, substantial fractions of the domain (one-third in two dimensions) are superoscillatory. Superoscillations have implications for signal processing, and raise the possibility of sub-wavelength resolution microscopy without evanescent waves. In quantum mechanics, superoscillations correspond to weak measurements, suggesting the observation of momenta far outside the range represented in the quantum state.